The director of Kampala University-South Sudan center says his institution has not received an order to shut down.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education ordered the closure of many private institutions of higher learning in the country.

It says all of them are illegal except two, which have been recognized.

They include Saint Mary’s College and Catholic University, which is affiliated to Catholic University of East Africa.
The ministry said police were directed to enforce the order.

But the director of the center for Kampala University, Paulino Uchwong, says the institution has not been notified about the order to close.

“We didn’t receive a letter, an official letter from them. I went there. I talked to the director for private universities and they said they didn’t issue any statement,” Paulino told Eye Radio.

“I talked to the minister of education. Even [since] two years ago, I’m communicating with them. Today I communicated with the legal advisers.”

Meanwhile, the Director General for Training in the department of higher education, Dr. Benjamin Gabriel Apai, said the University is not registered.

He says the government does not need to send a letter to the Universities because they are operating illegally.

“They are not registered and they know it very well, the government does not work like that at all because they come to this country illegally and they are operating and we are telling them that all institutions that are not registered should shut down,” says Dr Benjamin.

In 2012, 20 private universities and colleges were shut down for not meeting what the ministry considered as the required, including proper laboratories, stocked libraries and qualified lectures.