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First permanent classroom blocks to be constructed in Nanyidik, Rupa, Moroto district
Posted on: 12th December, 2022 By: NRDO Uganda 9 min read
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MOROTO - According to a new report by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), more than 6 million children in Uganda aged 5 - 17 are engaged in hazardous and exploitative work that puts their life in jeopardy. Presenting findings to various stakeholders at the Kampala Serena Hotel, Michael Ogen, a principal statistician at UBOS, said trends in child labor particularly increased among children aged 5 - 11 years (58%) in 2021 from 55%, reported in 2019/2020’s Uganda National Household Survey. By sub region, Karamoja reported the highest number of children engaged in child labor at 55.6%, followed by Lango, Elgon, Busoga and Acholi just to name a few. In Karamoja, Poverty and high unemployment levels mainly cause child labor, limited access to compulsory, and free education intensifies the situation, together with inadequate policies, laws and enforcement due to exemptions included in the national laws. Insecurity in the region is partly to blame for this but also a number of cultural practices among the Karamojong communities contribute a fair share to the increasing child labor cases in the region.
The WNCB alliance (WORK: No Child’s Business), with Hivos as a lead consists of ‘Nascent Research and Development Organization Uganda (NRDO-U)’, ‘Save the Children’, ‘UNATU’ and ‘EWAD’ are implementing a 5 year program in the Karamoja region to tackle and address the root causes of child labor. Among the key interventions by the WNCB alliance is to prioritize education, but many regions in Karamoja do not have schools. In Rupa Sub County, Moroto district, children walk long distances as far as 21 km to the nearest primary school. Villages like Nanydik (found in the same Sub County) does not have a single primary school. As a result, a motivational learning center was set up in Nanyidik and the community was encouraged to send their children to be educated.
NRDO-U have operated the Nanyidik Motivational learning center in an open space with a temporary structure on a piece of land provided by the community. The learning center has a total of four teachers, three provided by the local government and one provided by NRDO-U. The center also provides meals, which attracts more children to go at the center since the region often suffers famine seasons from time to time with many cases of malnutrition.
“We started the motivational center in 2020 with just about 35 children. We now have 211 children enrolled at the learning center. This is a good achievement for us and we believe that with the current engagements that we have with the district officials, leaders and our donors, the motivational learning center will be graduated into a formal primary school”, Grace Ariao, a project coordinator for NRDO-U in Moroto said during the groundbreaking ceremony. She also added that NRDO-U managed to lobby for 2 classrooms, and are planning to have classes from primary one to primary three, since the nearest primary school from Nanyidik is about 21 km.
“This motivational learning center has attracted more children. We have had an opportunity today to launch the site for construction to ensure that we have at least permanent classroom blocks since the children have been learning in open space”, said Mr. Eko Edward, Assistant CAO Moroto. He went on to explain that this is going to have a far-reaching impact on the communities because it is not easy for pastoralists to allow their children to move out of herding cattle.
“As the education department, we have been having a big challenge in this area. We identified this area because young children are involved in mining and do not have access to education. Children walk long distances to go to school. When this consortium of partners (WNCB) came in to complement government programs in Moroto district, we appreciated them so much”, said Mr. Ewungu Samuel, DEO Moroto representative. He was hopeful that the construction of this site would make all children in the area access education. He also stressed that the district is willing to increase the number of teachers deployed at the center should they be needed.
The RDC Moroto, Mr. Wopuwa George William advised youth in the region to stay away from joining gangs that raid cattle and pledged to intensify security in the region to keep school going children safe. He also asked field officers to always with consult security personnel whenever they are going to do field activities.
The groundbreaking event marked the beginning of the construction of the classroom blocks and the construction project was awarded to Brookfeild Construction Company, which expects to finish construction in March of 2023. Among the key people that attended the event include; RDC Moroto (Mr. Wopuwa George William), Assistant CAO Moroto (Mr. Eko Edward), representative from DEO Moroto (Mr. Ewungu Samuel), Moroto district speaker and other government officials. Representatives from UNATU and other staff from the consortium were also present.
The WNCB alliance (WORK: No Child’s Business), with Hivos as a lead consists of ‘Nascent Research and Development Organization Uganda (NRDO-U)’, ‘Save the Children’, ‘UNATU’ and ‘EWAD’ are implementing a 5 year program in the Karamoja region to tackle and address the root causes of child labor. Among the key interventions by the WNCB alliance is to prioritize education, but many regions in Karamoja do not have schools. In Rupa Sub County, Moroto district, children walk long distances as far as 21 km to the nearest primary school. Villages like Nanydik (found in the same Sub County) does not have a single primary school. As a result, a motivational learning center was set up in Nanyidik and the community was encouraged to send their children to be educated.
NRDO-U have operated the Nanyidik Motivational learning center in an open space with a temporary structure on a piece of land provided by the community. The learning center has a total of four teachers, three provided by the local government and one provided by NRDO-U. The center also provides meals, which attracts more children to go at the center since the region often suffers famine seasons from time to time with many cases of malnutrition.
“We started the motivational center in 2020 with just about 35 children. We now have 211 children enrolled at the learning center. This is a good achievement for us and we believe that with the current engagements that we have with the district officials, leaders and our donors, the motivational learning center will be graduated into a formal primary school”, Grace Ariao, a project coordinator for NRDO-U in Moroto said during the groundbreaking ceremony. She also added that NRDO-U managed to lobby for 2 classrooms, and are planning to have classes from primary one to primary three, since the nearest primary school from Nanyidik is about 21 km.
“This motivational learning center has attracted more children. We have had an opportunity today to launch the site for construction to ensure that we have at least permanent classroom blocks since the children have been learning in open space”, said Mr. Eko Edward, Assistant CAO Moroto. He went on to explain that this is going to have a far-reaching impact on the communities because it is not easy for pastoralists to allow their children to move out of herding cattle.
“As the education department, we have been having a big challenge in this area. We identified this area because young children are involved in mining and do not have access to education. Children walk long distances to go to school. When this consortium of partners (WNCB) came in to complement government programs in Moroto district, we appreciated them so much”, said Mr. Ewungu Samuel, DEO Moroto representative. He was hopeful that the construction of this site would make all children in the area access education. He also stressed that the district is willing to increase the number of teachers deployed at the center should they be needed.
The RDC Moroto, Mr. Wopuwa George William advised youth in the region to stay away from joining gangs that raid cattle and pledged to intensify security in the region to keep school going children safe. He also asked field officers to always with consult security personnel whenever they are going to do field activities.
The groundbreaking event marked the beginning of the construction of the classroom blocks and the construction project was awarded to Brookfeild Construction Company, which expects to finish construction in March of 2023. Among the key people that attended the event include; RDC Moroto (Mr. Wopuwa George William), Assistant CAO Moroto (Mr. Eko Edward), representative from DEO Moroto (Mr. Ewungu Samuel), Moroto district speaker and other government officials. Representatives from UNATU and other staff from the consortium were also present.
Last updated on: 30th October, 2024
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