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.
It is also a branch of the National Fisheries
Resources Institute (NAFIRRI), which is a Public Agriculture Research
Institute, under the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO),
responsible for fisheries research.
It is also a branch of the National Fisheries
Resources Institute (NAFIRRI), which is a Public Agriculture Research
Institute, under the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO),
responsible for fisheries research.
He also said they export 90,000 tonnes of fish every year,
which earns the country $150m, while the region consumes 60,000 tonnes that bring
in about $80m.
