Gulu Girls Left Out Of Education
By Alice Emasu

May 15, 2006 -(New Vision) Many IDPs give away their daughters in marriage even when they are under 18 years

THEY are still the Wretched of the Earth. Trapped between war and survival, children in Gulu district, particularly girls are now fighting a new war of discrimination in education.

As many as 25,000 children of school going age in this northern district are out of school. This is despite the existence of many education and humanitarian organisations like Oxfam, Avsi, World Vision and Gusco in this district that has faced the brunt of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels for the past 20 years.

Even with the introduction of special programmes like the Universal Primary Education (UPE), school bursaries and school feeding programmes, the school drop out rate stands at 31% out of a total enrollment of 174,584. This drop out rate is far above the national average of about 10%.

The most affected are the girls. Sixty-nine percent of girls' total enrollment of 81,387 in primary schools quit studies, according to the 2005 /2006 district education statistics. There are only 4,500 girls pursuing secondary education as opposed to 6,500 boys.

In a random interview in selected IDP camps, there was an outcry by parents that many children are out of school due to open discrimination against vulnerable groups like women, orphans, the disabled and people living with HIV/AIDS.

They say most beneficiaries of the school scholarships were children of the few powerful and influential IDPs, with some children having more than one scholarship.

Many UPE beneficiaries have also dropped out because of inability to afford the sh1,500 (US $0.82) required per term for the feeding programme.

There are also many cases of children dropping out due to lack of scholastic materials including school uniforms, which costs about sh12,000.

Stella Ayo of the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network acknowledges the existence of discrimination and marginalisation of especially girls in the camps.

She regrets that the education of girls in Gulu is characterised by high drop out rate and poor performance despite years of concerted efforts to promote girls education in the country.

She outlines various factors that are responsible for the low education of girls in Gulu as poverty, child marriages, unfriendly sanitary facilities including the lack of sanitary towels and the fear by most parents that the school environment exposes their girls to abductions by the rebels.

"We are also noticing child prostitution which was unheard of in Gulu. There are also incidences of child labour where girls are engaged in petty trade including baby-sitting. All these are linked to the war", says Ayo.

Rev. Vincent Ocen, the Gulu acting district education officer concurs with Ayo.
He says the high rate of child marriages due to biting poverty and moral decay resulting from the camp hardships also contributes to drop out.

"Many IDPs give a way their daughters in marriage even when they are under 18 years," Ocen observes.

He regrets that child marriages and cohabitation is now openly accepted.

He says the NGOs supporting education in the district were overwhelmed by the high numbers.

Ocen accepts there could be nepotism in the selection of the benefiting camps with some individuals encouraging NGOs to work in the camps or areas where their relatives and families live.

He, however says most NGOs do not follow the guidelines set by the district leadership with many preferring to work directly with the communities, a practice that has led to concentration of their activities in town.

Most NGOs also operate in camps within the town for security reasons. As such, schools located in remote sub-counties of Atiak, Palaro, Purongo, Odek, Lalogi, Amuru and Awat have missed out. It is believed the bulk of Gulu's children out of school, are from these areas.

David Maggi, the Area Team Leader of AVSI, while agreeing most NGOs work is concentrated in town, blames it on the lack of effective monitoring of services being rendered by the different stakeholders in IDPs.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200605151058.html