Give a child the start to education for a year

Schools have reopen in Uganda after nearly-two-year COVID closure. Some 15 million pupils have not attended school in Uganda since March 2020 when classrooms were shuttered as COVID-19 swept the world.

Monday 10/1/2022 was an excitement that cannot be hidden—even behind masks. The mood at Agape Christian school in Uganda’s Gulu District is one of anticipation. Pupils holding books, pencils and colouring crayons  enter their classroom for the early morning lesson. Their teachers feel rejuvenated to hold a piece of chalk again and teach subjects of their passion. The eagerness on the pupils’ and teachers’ faces is palpable. The pupils talk and laugh like long lost friends as they wait for the teacher. It’s been 5 days since schools reopened for all classes, but each new day, pupils at this school are excited to meet and talk to their friends they had missed during the 2 years of the lockdown.

However, challenges still lie ahead. With their careers on hold, many teachers have also switched to other jobs to help provide for their families. Students who took up manual jobs to support their families through the pandemic and may not return to education. Other students worry they may never catch up on the school work they have missed. During the pandemic, many school-aged boys entered the child labour market to work in mining, street vending and vegetable planting. According to the National Planning Authority (NPA), up to 30 percent of students are expected to not return to their school desks due to teen pregnancy, early marriage, child labour and rising poverty levels.

Despite the challenges, all hope is not lost! Your generous contributions continue to greatly empower these impoverished young children to keep in school by meeting their tution, catering for teachers' salaries, scholastic materials and many others. We are also still short on our budget this year and if you can, please send in your donation!

Links:

• Connect with us on facebook
• Connect with us on Twitter
• www.karincommunity.org

In Uganda, schools have been closed since March 2020, putting 15 million pupils out of education. Only certain classes with exams coming up have been allowed to return. The rest will return in a staggered way in the coming months, though thousands of girls will not, having become pregnant or been married off in the intervening period.

In the Gulu district in the north of the country where we operate, many school going children are making bricks, selling bread or fruits under the burning sun for pennies, rather than attending classes. Their plight is part of a wider rise in children working in the region.

The children here still have fun, sometimes finding time to play hide-and-seek or perform tricks with skipping ropes, but do not know if they will ever go back to school. Their mothers worry about the physical impact this is having on their children. Mothers are aware that making bricks brings physical problems like pain in the arms and spine but they can’t see any other way for their families to survive.

The government of Uganda encourages online classes where possible for these children. However, our new Agape school is still short of finances to acquire the necessary gadgets and equipment & training to make digital classes possible. We are still counting on the generosity of you our well wishers to make this dream possible and give these children a better future.

Links:

• Connect with us on Twitter
• Connect with us on facebook
• www.karincommunity.org