Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Poverty Raises School Dropouts in Jinja

from All Africa

New Vision (Kampala)

By Donald Kiirya
Jinja

THE prevailing poverty in the rural areas in Jinja district has caused an increase in the rate of school dropouts, the LC3 chairman of Busedde sub-county, Zubairi Tugezye, has said.

"Most children, particularly boys, are used as porters in sugarcane plantations in order to earn a living."

Tugezye was speaking during the handover of 10 sewing machines and start-up kits to the locals recently. The sewing machines were donated to two civic clubs under the Safe Guarding Girls Education and Development Project that was initiated by Jinja Women's Association and the Ibulanku Women Project in collaboration with the Busoga Association UK.

"Many children in Primary Six and Seven drop out of school because they get pregnant," Tugezye said.

He added that most dropouts, especially the girls aged between 16 and 19 years, are forced to get married quickly by their parents who want bride price.

The council, Tugezye added, would soon enact by-laws to ensure that all parents take their children to school.

1 comment:

Jenna Raby (laborfair.com) said...

I was just in Kampala and in Jinja province in Uganda, four weeks ago. I can report that I saw children working in the sugar can fields personally. While Uganda has a reduced HIV/AIDS rate and increased GDP, there is still child labor. As the article points out, sewing machines are an excellent approach to income generation for boys and girls alike. Garment production could be a healthy industry in this country with large socially minded corporations like Nytil employing them.