KAMPALA – As one would think that schools are safe places for children to learn, it has turned out to be bleeding for violence and abuse which defeats the purpose of education and forces children to drop out, perform poorly and fail to succeed in their lives.
Although corporal punishments are banned from schools, it is said that teachers still exercise them and other many forms of violence against children.
Ms. Ketty Lamaro – Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education and Sports says that violence amongst children in schools is among the challenges the education sector is grappling with and has affected the learners at all levels.
Speaking at the Safe To Learn National Symposium on Thursday, Lamaro noted that the available research by the ministry shows that the rate of violence against children in schools is very high, especially the learners between the age of 13 to 18.
“This has implications on their educational achievement and is a driver for many dropping out of school,” said madam PS who was represented by Ismael Mulindwa from the Education Ministry.
Under the theme, “Reflecting on the and accelerating action towards a safe leaning environment”, players, at an event held at Speke Resort Hotel Munyonyo in Kampala, sought to forge a way forward of creating a safe learning environment for all children.
Lamaro says that Uganda has a very young population with 77% under the age of 30 and 55% under the age of 18, most of whom still in school.
“Therefore creating a safe and conducive learning environment for all these young people to enroll and stay in school contributes to sustainable and inclusive growth and directly contributes to a healthy productive and manageable population.”
She said that as a sector, they are still committed to developing and implementing programs to ensure a safe, conducive and inclusive learning environment.
Officiating at the event, John Chrysestom Muyingo politician – the State Minister for Higher Education revealed that in partnership with line ministries, development partners and civil society organizations, they have been implementing a number of initiatives in line with this call to action.
“We have worked together to support efforts in ensuring policies and guidelines are in place to protect our children from all forms of abuse.”
He revealed that in 2020, the ministry of gender finalized the national child policy which he says is a fulfillment of the government of Uganda’s constitutional mandate on the welfare of children.
“It is being implemented in a multispectral manner and ministry of education plays a very critical role. We have put in place various prevention and response mechanism addressing negative social norms and practices, utilization of evidence to inform programs to support the implementation of interventions aimed at eliminating violence in schools,” said minister.
Besides, the minister noted that they are grappling with other concerns that have resulted in an unfriendly environment for children. He says that with the disruption of education due to COVID-19, many adolescent girls got pregnant before 18.
“If we aren’t able to save our young generations from such problems, it will undermine our efforts to attain sustainable development goals. This calls for collective efforts to address the root cause of these challenges. We should work together to ensure that those who are responsible for these vices are brought to book and the victims of teenage pregnancies are given a second chance to be enrolled back to school.”
At the event, players launched a tool kit for a safe learning environment aimed at giving skills to children to ensure they go through challenges they face at school, home and in the communities.
Minister Muyingo noted that the tool kit will guide children at home, on the way and at school on how to deal with challenges they face.
Rosette Nanyanzi, a Gender Technical Advisor in the Ministry of Education and Sports, the tool kit will guide children on how to go about gender challenges and how to live in the environment.
“The information that a child gets from the tool kit will guide him or her on how to deal with the challenges but to also make decision about his life. It will be used by teachers to teach children using school clubs to impart skills. It is for the entire country and targeting children between 10 and 18 years who are adolescents.”
She noted that the tool kit has been distributed to Karamoja region, West Nile and Western Uganda, especially the refugee settings and now going to colleges.
“Teachers will be taught through our college structures where we have centre coordinating tutors to also monitor the use of the tool kit.”
