Many of the beneficiaries have been walking between three and six kilometres to and from school every day, often arriving late for lessons or missing school altogether because of the long distances and harsh weather conditions.
Jerome Amizaru, the headteacher of Dzaipi Secondary School, welcomed the intervention, saying transport has been a major barrier to learning.
“Not all students live close to the school. These bicycles will greatly improve their ability to travel to and from school. Some have been missing lessons because they arrive late, while others leave early for fear of reaching home after dark,” Amizaru said.
The beneficiary schools are Dzaipi Secondary School, Pagirinya Secondary School, Adjumani Secondary School, Lewa Seed Secondary School, and Ofua Seed Secondary School. Each school received 52 bicycles, comprising 50 for learners and two for school administration.
Speaking during the handover ceremony, Caroline Akullu Menya, Institutional Development Officer at ENABEL, said an assessment conducted before the intervention identified transport as one of the major barriers to regular school attendance among learners in the targeted schools.
She said the bicycles are expected to help learners arrive at school on time, attend all lessons, improve concentration, and ultimately enhance their academic performance.
“After completing school, the beneficiaries will transfer the bicycles to other learners facing similar transport challenges so that more students can benefit and succeed in their education,”
Akullu said.
She also commended parents for supporting their children’s education and urged them to ensure the bicycles are properly used and maintained.
Simon Peter Alumai, a student at Dzaipi Secondary School and one of the beneficiaries, said he frequently arrived late for classes after trekking long distances and was often caught in the rain while travelling to school.
“The bicycle will help me reach school early and attend all lessons without unnecessary delays,”
Alumai said.
Another beneficiary, Sharon Ababiku, a Senior Three student from Jurumini Village in Dzaipi Sub-county, said walking several kilometres every day had negatively affected her studies.
“Many times I reached school after the morning lessons had already begun. Now that I have a bicycle, I will arrive early and concentrate more on my academics,”
she said.
Beyond providing bicycles, the project has equipped each beneficiary school with bicycle toolkits, trained learners on safe bicycle riding, established bicycle management committees, and trained five local mechanics to carry out routine inspection and maintenance.
Cycling Out of Poverty Uganda Project Coordinator Hellen Kakungulu said the initiative seeks to reduce school dropout, improve learner retention, boost academic performance, and increase school completion rates.
“Together with our partners, we want to ensure that no learner drops out of school simply because they lack reliable transport,” Kakungulu said.
During the handover ceremony, the implementing partners, school administrators, parents, and student beneficiaries signed a memorandum of understanding outlining the responsibilities of each stakeholder to ensure proper management and long-term sustainability of the programme.
Under the agreement, ownership of the bicycles will remain with the respective schools, and the bicycles will be reassigned to other deserving learners once current beneficiaries complete their studies.
The bicycles were provided through a partnership involving Cycling Out of Poverty Uganda, ENABEL, the Ministry of Education and Sports, the Government of Belgium, and the European Union as part of efforts to improve access to quality education for both refugee and host community learners in Adjumani District.