It has been a challenging year in Uganda, following 21 months of COVID-19 enforced school closures - the longest in the world. This has had a devastating impact on children’s education, with most children having limited or no access to education during this time. We are so pleased schools finally reopened on 10th January 2022 but the impact of the school closures continues to influence students’ ability to learn effectively in Uganda; rises in teen pregnancy, children being forced to work full time to support their families and overcrowded classes are just some of the challenges arising. Street Child is working to support the children of Uganda to return to school as effectively as possible.
While schools were closed there has been a significant increase in young mothers. Approximately 600,000 teenage girls aged between 13-19 years are thought to have become pregnant during the two-year school lockdown and many families forced their daughters into early marriage in exchange for bride dowry. With schools closed the lack of access to sex education also contributed to this increase. Now many of these girls are returning to school with young children and most schools do not have the correct facilities to support young mothers, creating a further barrier to accessing education for these young girls. Working alongside our local partner AWYAD, Street Child are working on creating a safe environment for these young mothers through advocacy, shifting cultural norms and working alongside the community to encourage them to return to school.
Furthermore, COVID-19 negatively impacted many of the families livelihoods that Street Child work with. During the lockdowns with markets were closed, movement was restricted and trading was banned. This meant some families lost their source of income and did not have sufficient savings to cover the long period of minimal work opportunities. To make up for this loss many children began working full time to support their families. Now that schools have reopened many children are struggling to return to school as they are still having to work to support their families. Street Child are addressing these issues through working with community leaders and radio stations to organise ‘back to school’ campaigns. Alongside this we are providing basic school requirements such as textbooks and stationery for those who cannot afford it as well as psychological support for students.
As some students having missed almost two years of school’s teachers are facing an overwhelming number of students in the junior classes who are turning up to study. Street Child are supporting these teachers by providing training on the new curriculum, psychological support and surveillance training to control the spread of COVID-19 in school. Furthermore, while schools were closed in Uganda, Street Child continued to support children to learn through distant learning facilitated via home learning packs and for those with access learning sessions on radios and on TVs. This has supported many children to retain a higher level of literacy and numeracy than if they had not had access to these resources.
Now that schools are open in Uganda, Street Child will continue to support these children to ensure that they are safe, in school and learning, despite the challenges.