Butaleja. The school dropout rate in Butaleja District has risen from 45 per cent to 70 per cent in the last four years, new statistics have revealed.
According to statistics from the district education department, school dropout rate in upper primary is between 60 and 70 per cent, while the dropout rate in lower primary is at 10 per cent. An assessment conducted by the education department shows that school dropout rate rose significantly after most parents failed to provide food and other necessities for their children.

The drop is also being attributed to other factors including parents who marry off their young daughters, hunger, poor learning environment and lack of food support, among others.
The district education officer, Mr Phillip Kalyebbi, while releasing the statistics on Monday told Daily Monitor: “The school dropout rate in the district is alarming. We need to do something to solve this.”
He added that while inspecting schools on Monday [February 29], he found schools with less than 20 children.

The Butaleja assistant chief administrative officer, Mr Abdu Waweyo, attributed the dropout rates to casual labour, saying: “Most parents send their children to scare away birds from rice fields instead of sending them to school.”
He said there is need to join hands with all stakeholders to forge a way forward.

Last year, the district leaders launched a campaign dubbed “Back to School” to ensure all children of school going age are enrolled in schools.
Uganda has the highest number of school dropout rate in East Africa, according to a 2010 report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

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In a series of recommendations published this week, the African Commission on Human And Peoples’ Rights (African Commission) expressed its deep concerns about the growth and lack of regulation in private schools, which could be violating the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights.  The African Commission expressed its worry that “that the increase in the establishment of private schools […] could result in discrimination against children from low-income households. It further noted that the growth of private education “has been encouraged by the Government”, which  “raises the concern of the government gradually releasing itself from the obligation to provide quality public education”. 

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Press release, London, 14th October 2015

International campaigners have expressed concern that the British government could be violating the right to education with its support for the growth of private schools across Africa and south Asia. International and British organisations as well as teachers’ unions have joined campaigners from countries including Kenya, Uganda and Ghana* to condemn the increased use of British aid money to support for-profit primary schools, in particular so-called ‘low-fee’ private schools, which are fuelling inequality, creating segregation and undermining the right to education. 

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Privatisation of education has a devastating impact, aggravating inequality, so why does the development community fund profit-seeking providers?

At the beginning of the new millennium, the international community made a commitment to achieve universal primary education for all boys and girls. Today, 15 years later, we find huge gaps between these commitments and reality.

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By Violet Nabatanzi
MULAGO National Referral Hospital has received medical equipment for improving maternal and new-born health care.   The donation comes at a right time when the hospital is overwhelmed with a big number of mothers delivering from there.
The equipment including Blood Pressure machines, Dopplers for foetal monitoring and Vacuum extraction machines were donated by Jhpiego, an International non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. Annually the hospital delivers 32,000 women.

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Lira - District assistant health officer, Mr Edmon Acheka, has revealed that 122 babies died in the 30 health facilities across the district between May 2013 to March this year as a result of absenteeism of medical workers and non-functional theaters.
The district Health Services Review Report released this month, reveals that 15 women died within the same period in the same facilities across the district.

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Moroto - Teachers in several primary schools in Moroto District have resorted to writing on blackboards using dried cassava due to a shortage of chalk. The shortage of chalk was caused by the government’s delay to release Universal Primary Education (UPE) grants to schools.Mr Peter Okedi, a teacher at Kakingole Primary School, said: “The cassava we are using at the moment and some that we gave to neighbouring schools was brought from Teso (sub-region) for eating but we have ended up using it as chalk.” The district education officer, Mr Paul Oputa, said the delay to release UPE grants was hampering education.

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The second school term of 2014 opened on May 19th and is closing on August 8 but the capitation grants have not yet been released to the Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools. In 2002, the government introduced the capitation grant to UPE schools to replace fees that were abolished.

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