NO SCHOOL UNTIL 2022- REFLECTING ON A SECOND YEAR OF SCHOOL CLOSURE IN UGANDA

It has been nearly two years since Ugandan children have been able to go to school, one of the longest COVID-19 induced school closures in the world (UNICEF 2021). With lockdowns continuing across Uganda, schools remain closed and are not planned to reopen until January 2022 at the earliest. This is an enormous setback for learning in a country where only 40% of children are literate when they leave primary school, and which hosts more than 500,000 refugee children.

To provide remote education services, the Ugandan government has focused on radio and television learning. However, with only 32% of households having radios and 19% having televisions, this approach has widened the inequality gap. Street Child in Uganda, along with our local partners, have developed a ‘Last Mile Learning’ approach to help excluded children to access education, with a specific focus on refugee children.

Last Mile Learning: Street Child’s low cost, scalable approach for remote learning in low resource environments included 27,404 home learning packs tailored to the level of the child, allowing them to continue to engage with learning during school closures. In Kyaka and Palabek refugee camps, community group learning sessions have been held outside and have meant 5,842 children have had access to some form of learning with a teacher. These face-to-face interactions allow teachers to monitor any child protection risks and community mentors support by providing psycho-social support to the children.

Risks to girls increasing: Since schools have been closed, there has also been a significant increase in teenage pregnancies and early child marriage over the past year, with a 45% increase in teenage pregnancies in some areas such as Lamwo (AVSI Foundation 2020). Government guidance requires girls to remain out of school between being three months pregnant until the baby is six months old. Due to this long period out of school, adolescent pregnancy is thought to account for 59% of school dropout cases in Uganda (AVSI Foundation 2020). Girls are amongst the worst affected by COVID-19, and many will struggle to go back school.

To combat this rise, Street Child in Uganda have conducted awareness raising sessions in areas such as Palabek refugee camp with boys and girls on safe sex and teenage pregnancies. These preventative measures are essential in ensuring more girls will return to school when they reopen.

2022 and beyond: The long-lasting impact of children being out of school for nearly two years remains unknown – the overall effects on children’s learning. However, there is still much advocacy support to be done to encourage children to return to schools when they reopen. This will be a crucial part of Street Uganda’s strategy moving forward. Until schools reopen, Street Child remain focused on reducing barriers to education via preventative measures against teenage pregnancy and providing education to the most marginalised through community sessions in refugee camps. This support will be integral to safely reintegrating children back into classrooms once schools reopen.