Whereas the number of girls enrolling in school all over the country has gone up, many remain at risk of dropping out before completing the cycle of education at various levels.
Poverty , among other factors has been the leading contributor to this state of affairs, especially among parents and guardians in rural areas which exposes girls to various temptations.
Consequently, many girls are lured into early relationships by their "good Samaritans" and end up pregnant, while others are compelled to get married by their parents for not pursuing higher education.
Scola, (not her real name) now 16, is a victim of early marriage from Butaleja and lives to tell her dilemma.
To date, she curses, the day she fell into the trap of a boda boda operator just because of shs10, 000.
“I found this man as I returned home from school. I lacked many things like sanitary pads and other needs as a girl. He started giving me some small money like shs3000 from time to time and even bought me sanitary pads. During my menstrual periods, I would stay home for about a week because my parents could not provide them,” she narrates.
Scola saw this man (boda boda rider), as her savior not knowing that behind the "good samaritan" lay a snake that was ready to pounce and shatter her dreams.
“He used to provide me with what I wanted including clothes and never demanded for anything. But one day, he gave me sh10, 000 and asked me to visit his place which I did innocently. When we reached there, he convinced me into sex,” she adds.
Days later, she (Scola) started vomiting and developing a fever.
Her parents got concerned and on realizing she was pregnant, they immediately chased her away from home.
The man who impregnated her also fled.
Scola later dropped out of school at 13 years before completing the primary cycle and continues to struggle with life.
Statistics
Scola represents thousands of voiceless girls in her area and elsewhere in the country who face the same predicaments.
According to the World Bank statistics, Uganda has one of the highest rates of early marriage in the world, with over 40% of girls that are married before the age of 18 and 10% that are married before they turn 15 years old.
The COVID-19 pandemic escalated the problem, as schools suspected for two years.
A recent report by UNICEF indicates that about one in 10 children in Uganda did not report to school in January 2022 as schools reopened.
The Annual Police Crime Report 2021 shows that 14, 226 girls were defiled in that year out of which persons who were HIV positive defiled 281 girls, 122 by guardians, 107 by parents, and 60 by teachers.
Of these 10,053 girls were aged between 15-17 while 80 of them were girls with disabilities.
Interventions
As a means to come to the rescue of the situation, Rose Academies Uganda, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the plight of vulnerable children, has started a project to assist marginalized girls in returning to school or acquiring relevant vocational skills to start their own businesses.
They offer scholarships to girls from vulnerable families, targeting mainly those from rural settings.
So far, 30 girls have been enrolled back into school to complete their primary cycle of education.
According to the director of the organization in Uganda, Clare Ainomugisha, their intervention focuses on education and career skilling since it is the basis for positive change among women and communities.
“We have been working in remote villages since 2014 with the mission of removing the barriers that prevent women and children from getting an education, providing them with academic knowledge and career skills so they may become contributing members of society on top of self-sustaining,” she noted.
Statistics indicate that about 54.4 million girls are out of school in the Sub- Saharan Africa and nine million that may even never enter a classroom.
“The reasons are many, but the primary cause of such a staggering number of out-of-school children is the onset of puberty. Because of that fact, we concentrated our early efforts on developing educational programs about puberty, menstruation, and reproductive health. But we need to do more,” Ainomugisha said.
She stressed that their educational programs have expanded to include lessons on neonatal health, nutrition, disease prevention, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) among others, as a package.
She says this helps the rural women and girls understand well their body, reproduction, and healthcare practices, while the lessons on nutrition help mothers improve their families’ nutritional intake to have healthy children.
“We believe and have witnessed how knowledge empowers in making better decisions, creates self-confidence, encourages critical thinking and a means to create positive change. We are providing the tools to empower the next generation of community leaders, positive change makers, and contributors to society,” she added.
They target 30 impoverished, and marginalized girls in the Soroti district, ranging from the age from 8-13 years of age, who should already have reached between primary three and seven.
“We want to support these girls to go to the best schools to realize their dream and excel through all levels of education as part of our target,” Ainomugisha said.
They also train communities in financial literacy, vegetable gardening, feminine and family health, family planning, and disease prevention in various selected sub-counties.
This month, a total of 126 students in Soroti graduated in various skills including baking, hairdressing, tailoring, and decoration among others.
Out of these, 13 beneficiaries were persons with disabilities, while 50% of the graduate were already young mothers and 18 boys/men.
Survey
She said the organization first carried out a baseline assessment to identify candidates for the scholarship.
A total of 491 families from six parishes were assessed, and 187 girls were found to have left primary school due to extreme poverty; unable to pay school fees, and early pregnancy, while others were needed at home to treat their sick relatives.
“After this process, we selected 30 girls that we feel are most deserving of this exceptional opportunity,” she added.
Beneficiaries
Phoebe Muge 13, said she has dropped out of school to look after her sick brother.
“My family was paying medical bills for my brother and I could not go back to school. I am happy that I am returning to school finally. My dream is to be a nurse and help my family,” she added.
Jerusha Akello, 10, dropped out of school in form six after his father was involved in a terrible accident,
“I am excited to that I am going back to school to finish my studies,” she added.