School dropout at lake shores reduces as the law bites
Children playing in an old boat at the shores of Lake Edward at Katwe landing site Kasese District recently. Photo by MORIS MUMBERE
What you need to know:
- Mr Bright Saidi, the head teacher at Katwe Quran said that in 2016 -17, the enrolment of the school was 218 but since 2018 the numbers of learners has increased to 420 as an impact of the new policy at the lake shores.
Following the President’s directive to arrest those practicing illegal fishing, several children who were employed by the fishermen to do causal labour have stopped causing increase of learners in schools around Katwe, Kasese district, Mr Steven Katesigwa, the coordinator of fishermen of the UPDF marines has said.
“The UPDF has done great work at the lake with hope that children will now concentrate on books since many had opted to do fishing instead of going to school,” Kaesigwa said.
He said that previously, the fishermen were hiring children to help them spread the nets in the lakes as they provided cheap labour, which forced some of them to drop out of school to look for money.
Mr Jimmy Odyeke Baluku, the coordinator Rwenzori Consortium for Civic Competence (RWECO), an NGO has observed that, “The rate of children absconding from classes in most schools around Lake Edward has reduced due to the creation of a safe space in schools and government’s policy on illegal fishing activities in and around the district.”
Baluku added that, “Kasese being one of the leading districts in early child marriages, the fisheries policy has created discipline in the areas neighbouring lake shores which will promote education in the country.”
Ms Petwa Katusabe, a parent who owns a hotel at the landing site in Katwe explained that the UPDF marines always punish children they find at the landing site, a thing that has prompted children to re-join school in fear of being punished at the lake shore.
Katusabe added that, “The young ones who were street kids around the lake shores have also joined schools in fear of being arrested which has created order at the landing site.”
Mr Bright Saidi, the head teacher at Katwe Quran said that in 2016 -17, the enrolment of the school was 218 but since 2018 the numbers of learners has increased to 420 as an impact of the new policy at the lake shores.
He added, “The law is now strict which restricts learners not to be at the landing site during school and class hours.”
He hailed the efforts by the UPDF marines and RWECO for sensitising the masses in the district on education. However no survey has been done that can verify the claims.
