Five government grant-aided secondary schools in Adjumani District that enrol both refugee and host community learners have received 260 bicycles aimed at reducing transport challenges, improving school attendance, and boosting academic performance.
Many learners in the beneficiary schools walk between three and six kilometres to and from school every day, often arriving late for lessons or missing classes altogether due to long distances and harsh weather conditions.
The Headteacher of Dzaipi Secondary School, Jerome Amizaru, welcomed the intervention, saying the bicycles will help learners reach school on time and attend lessons consistently.
"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, including 50 for learners and two for school administration purposes.
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 affecting regular school attendance among learners.
She said the bicycles are expected to help students arrive at school on time, attend all lessons, improve concentration, and ultimately enhance 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 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 often arrived late for classes after walking long distances and was sometimes affected by heavy rains 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 daily had 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 in safe riding practices, established bicycle management committees, and trained five local mechanics to carry out routine inspections and maintenance.
Cycling Out of Poverty Uganda (CooP-Uganda) Project Coordinator Hellen Kakungulu said the initiative is aimed at reducing school dropout rates, improving learner retention, boosting academic performance, and increasing school completion.
"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, implementing partners, school administrators, parents, and student beneficiaries signed a memorandum of understanding outlining their roles and responsibilities in ensuring proper management and 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 (CooP-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 refugee and host community learners in Adjumani District.