By Kabooha
Mothers in Fort Portal, have expressed concern over husbands that fail to provide for their families and decide to run away
Roselyn Kembabazi, a resident of Harugongo sub-county in Kabarole district, says that men have contributed a lot to the school dropout rate in the area.
She says, fathers refuse to pay fees for their children which limits their chance of acquiring education since it is not free.
Fees range in Uganda
Currently, government schools typically charge about 200,000 shillings ($56) per term, while private school fees can range from 400,000 to 1 million shillings.
On 10th January 2022, Uganda ended the world’s longest school closure after ordering millions of children back to the classroom after a gap of nearly two years staying home.
About 15 million pupils were not attending classes in Uganda since March 2020 when they were shuttled due to covid-19.
Police report from the department of family and child protection unit at Fort-portal Police station, indicated that child negligence cases rose by 20% in the first month of school reopening
Agnes Angom, the in-charge, notes that more than 40 cases of child negligence were reported in one month after schools reopened because many fathers refused to pay for their children in schools.
What organizations say
According to the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), a civil society organization and co-plaintiff in the legal action, increased fees have been a further deterrent for low earning single mothers which has hindered them from sending Children back to school single handedly.,
Currently, the World Education Program Bantwana is undertaking a campaign to fight child negligence in Tooro sub-region and ensure maximum attendance of school by very child.
In 2019 a research by African Network for Prevention and Protection against Child abuse and Neglect, showed that child neglect was ranked the highest violation of children’s rights, while sexual violence or defilement emerged the second.
Physical violence, property rights and children in conflict with law followed in that order. The research, was conducted between January and December 2019 in all parts of Uganda
UNICEF, said about one in 10 children in Uganda did not report back to school in January, while the National Planning Authority (NPA), a government agency, estimated last year that up to 30% of children could drop out due to COVID-19 fallout and economic status related problems.
