Girl’s struggle to attain education in northern Karamoja

Girl’s struggle to attain education in northern Karamoja

By Hope Mafaranga

You have no idea what we girls go through in this region to attain education.  Someone needs to understand the Karamoja dynamics and the things parents and guardians pay attention to and regard as their priorities.

Among our parents priorities, shockingly but true,  education is not one of them, says Esther Lokote a primary seven pupil of Nakoreto primary school in Kotido district.

Lokote prints a picture of sadness on lack of commitment of parents to educate a girl child. “All what my parents see in me are cows and grandchildren. Nothing else they want. They do not want to see me progress from primary to high level of my education,” she said.

Struggle for support

Lokote  who pays her school fees of sh21,000 per term  which she earns  during holidays after working for people as a house maid, say she has repeated primary seven for four times because she cannot afford school fees in secondary school and no one has come for her rescue.

She has been passing the primary leaving examinations since 2014 but because she does not want to be married off, she is forced to repeat primary school to keep away from the eyes of her parents who want to sell her off.

“I have been passing with marks that can take me to secondary school but I did not have the money to go. I am now reading so hard and praying to God to get 4 aggregates so that I can get a sponsor. Ideally I could be in senior four now but there is no hope for me,” says the 16 years old.

She also most of peers who went back to the communities are now mothers at a tender age because they parents looked at them as source of wealth.

“I cannot go back to my village. I do not want to take such risk of being forced into early marriage. Moreover the parents do not even seek for our consent before. I have to continue struggling until I attain my goal of becoming a nurse. I know my God is not sleeping and one day he will bring an angel to support my education,” she says.

Charles Owiny the Abim district inspector of school agrees with Lotete of the negative attitude parents have towards girl education.

Vivian Lochoro another pupil say the safest place  for girls are schools saying that parents  value animals and small business than their girl children.

“ A girl child is prepared to become wife not a career and all round person. This as children we have to stand up for our rights and say enough is enough and we need education,” she said.

Lochoro thanked government for have introduced the boarding government aided primary schools in Karamoja to protect them.

She however says that this is not enough because after primary schools, those who are lucky to have completed do not go far due to lack of money.

“ I know government and other partners are doing their best but it’s not enough. Most girls complete primary school at the age of 13 and if you fail to get fees, the option is to find you a husband,” she said.

Background:

Owiny said the situation is not so different in Abim district just like other districts in Karamoja. He says Abim district with an estimated population of 121,900 of people which was curved out of Kotido district in July 1, 2006 have a large number of school drop-out.

The district has 34 governments aided primary schools, 12 community schools and five privately owned primary schools. Out of the 12 community schools, six are functional and six are non-functional.Owiny added that there are seven parishes without primary schools.  He named the parishes as Loyoroit, Oringowelo, Agwata, Angwee, Oyaro, Barlyech and Kobulin.

Owiny also said the district  have only four secondary schools of which three are government aided and one is privately owned called Alerek Progressive Academy.

He explained there are four sub-counties without secondary schools that include Magamaga, Awach, Abim and Nyakwae.

He also said the district has only one technical school called Abim Technical Institute, making it hard for students who wish to get vocation skills difficult to access.

“You can imagine the suffering of children in those sub-counties without any secondary school. They trek long distances and some failed drop out of school,” he explained.

Survival rate

Owiny said one of the biggest challenges the district have is the survival of the pupils who enroll in primary to ensure that they complete primary seven. He said that in 2009, 2119 boys and 2147 enrolled but only 719 boys and 469 were able to finish the primary seven.

He cited 2010 as another year that saw the number of pupils failing to complete primary school.

“That year we enrolled 2194 boys and 4279 girls but only 682 boys and 549 girls sat for their primary leaving examination. The rest never finished and this is not a small number that stakeholders should ignore,” he said, adding that the drop-out rates are relatively higher among the girls as compared to the boys

He said the survival rate from 2009-todate of is boys 34%, girls 22% and overall is 28%.

He cited poverty, early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and involvement in petty business, negative attitudes, bad cultural beliefs, domestic chores, teasing/nicknames, peer influence, poor performance, and lack of role models, lack of guidance and counseling and child neglect as the leading causes of the school drop-out.

Education not seen as a priority for so many years

The Kotido district LC V chairperson Ambrose Lotukei said that going to school in Karamoja has not been an important aspect of people’s priority.

Lotekei remembers his personnel experience when he was picked by the Iddi Amini’s soldiers forcefully to be taken to school.

In a sad voice, the LCV boss who also served as the district education officer for 11 years said the memories so painful because his parents often picked him from school and hide him in granary to prevent him from studying.

“But even then I was taken to school by the soldiers; my parents would often pick me from school and hide in the granary so that I do not study,” he said.

Solutions

The educationalist said the situation has left the district is uncomfortable situation and they are trying their best to mitigate the challenges.

His comments were emphasised by George William Kiberu the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Uganda programmes Manager in charge of Northern Karamoja who said they running awareness campaigns to change the trend.

“We organise radio talk show on early marriage and teenage pregnancies and discussion on issues affecting adolescents on addition to organizing debates in secondary schools on specific health topics for adolescents both in schools and out of schools,” he said.

Kiberu said with funding from DANIDA, they also created School Advocacy Clubs to provide a child friendly spaces as a platforms where children identify challenges that affect their education.

Kiberu said some other stakeholders like Straight Talk Foundation and some politicians are teaming up to award the best performing candidates in PLE.

The School Advocacy Clubs, according to Kiberu, go to the community and look for children who have dropped out of school, use music, dance and drama and take part in go back to school campaigns.

The School Advocacy Clubs continuously sensitise parents on the danger of early marriages, teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS as essential services to reduce their vulnerability.

They also promote peer groups networks and rapid response clubs and strengthening hygiene and sanitation in schools.