Seed secondary schools have turned out to be a holistic approach to promoting girl child education in Lango sub-region. The COVID-19 lockdown spiked teenage pregnancy across the country.
In 2020, the Lango sub-region, which comprises Oyam, Lira, Kwania, Apac, Kole, Dokolo, Amolatar, Otuke, and Alebtong districts and Lira City registered 13,192 teenage pregnancies, according to a June 2023 report by Communication for Development Foundation Uganda (CDFU).
By September 2021, the region had registered 25,812 teenage pregnancies. When schools reopened in January 2022, most of the affected girls had no hope of returning to class because they had to stay home to fend for and breastfeed their children. However, Flavia Rhema Atim, one of the affected girls will be starting her ordinary-level examinations on Monday 16th October after begging her parents to return to school.
Atim, who lives about a kilometer from Agali Seed Secondary School, is one of the many teenagers who became pregnant during the lockdown. She eloped with her boyfriend, but the relationship turned sour, forcing her to return home.
To her luck, Atim’s parents agreed and enrolled her back to school despite breastfeeding. She now breastfeeds her baby in between breaks while her classmates relax, a task which she says is hard to balance.
In 2022, the government in its plan of having at least a secondary school in every sub-county across the country commissioned seven seed secondary schools in Lango sub-regions. This presented an opportunity for learners like Atim, who might have dropped out of school due to different setbacks including pregnancies, exorbitant fees, and long distances to school.
Agali Seed is one of those schools. Although it started as a community school in 2012 it was taken over by the government in 2019. The school’s presence and the flexibility of its management presented an opportunity for pregnant and breastfeeding girls whose dreams were to continue studying.
Collins Abalo, the Deputy Headteacher of Agali Seed Secondary School, says that the program started in 2015 upon realizing that a number of girls in the area were not studying because of the long distances to the nearest school amidst other challenges.
As a woman, Abalo believes that this arrangement is giving young girls an opportunity to access education even after conceiving. She encouraged parents to treat all children equally regarding access to education.
Fustino Aremo, whose daughter returned to school shortly after delivering, says that he did not heed advice from fellow villagers who did not value girl child education.
Other parents agree with Aremo saying, that having their adolescent girls return to school after giving birth is a motivation for other young girls to stay in school and rediscover their potential.
Just like Agali, Ogor Seed School located in Ogor sub-county Otuke district is also offering opportunities to teenage mothers. It started in 2013 as a community school with an enrolment of 68 students but the number has since increased to over 500 following its upgrade by the government.
According to Christine Adongo, the head teacher of the school, a number of students especially teenage mothers from Otuke and the neighboring districts have joined the school because of the special arrangement and care given to them.
She is, however, disappointed in some parents whom she said have no interest in supporting girl child education.
Similarly, the Government also came up with interventions that include; Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Teenage Pregnancy in School Settings in Uganda, the formation of a multi-sectoral approach that includes; ministries of Education, Health, Gender, and stakeholders such as religious and cultural intuitions to foster the program. The guidelines help schools understand how to deal with teenage mothers and ensure that numbers do not increase.
In an effort to sustain this government initiative, different inspectors of schools in districts in Lango have had to redesign their approach to inspection with a special focus on child mothers. Jasper Abura, the Lira City Senior Education Officer says teachers, especially senior women and men are more equipped with knowledge to counsel learners about the dangers of early sex.
Jonathan Odur, the Erute North MP attests to the fact that Seed Schools has helped many children not only girls to attain secondary school, something that their parents would have not been able to provide for them. He then implored the children to make the best use of the school in order to have a bright future across the country.
In the financial year 2018/19, the World Bank partnered with the Ministry of Education to construct at least 259 secondary schools in sub-counties without public secondary schools under the Inter-Governmental Fiscal Transfers (UgIFT) program.
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