70% of learners returned to school after COVID-19 lockdown — report

Only 70% of learners in Uganda resumed their academics after the two-year-long COVID-19 lockdown was lifted, a study says.

“In addition, 80% of the participants [in the study] reported that some girls got pregnant in their communities, while only 59% reported that the girls who had given birth returned to school,” reads an excerpt from the report championed by the Forum for Women Educationalists (FAWE) Uganda Chapter.

FAWE executive director Susan Opok Tumusiime says concerning challenges, up to 92% of the participants reported having experienced various challenges and only 08% of the participants did not experience any challenge.

Some of the participants take a group picture with Dr. Joyce Moriku Kaducu, State Minister for Primary Education (2nd left). Photos by Colleb Mugume

“Specifically, girls were reported to have had more challenges than boys,” Opok said on Friday at Hotel Africana in Kampala, during the dissemination of the findings from the research study.

The study was hinged on ‘post COVID-19 situational analysis on access and retention for girls in primary and secondary schools in Uganda'.

Prof. Olema, the lead researcher, who is also the dean faculty of science and education at Busitema University, said: “As a member of FAWE, we undertook a study concerning drop outs as the result of pregnancies and this particular study came in the aftermath of the COVID-19. The question was "where are these girls who dropped out of school?”

The dominant challenges reported were financial hardships and negative attitudes. This was worse for the girls and learners with special needs, who lacked assistive devices in addition to being marginalised.

According to FAWE, the study covered 40 districts purposely selected from the northern, north eastern, Busoga, Central, western, south-western and West Nile regions. The participants comprised learners and school managers, who were selected using both probability and non-probability sampling.

Other prominent stakeholders who attended the launch of the findings, included education state minister Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu, UNESCO's Rosie Agoi and David Twebaze who spoke on the impact of culture on the girl child’s education. Gender ministry was represented by Dr Angelo Nakafeero, while Elizabeth Mushabe was the envoy for UN Women who pledged support to this cause of supporting girls in this plight such as teenage mothers who want to resume school after giving birth.