More girls enrolling for primary education-Report

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | More girls are enrolling for primary education compared to boys. This is according to the United Nation Population Fund’s State of the World population report.

The report indicates that more than six percent of the adjusted net enrollment of boys in primary education between 2009 and 2018 never attended school compared to three percent for girls.

With Uganda’s gender parity index standing at 1.03 in favour of females, the country’s general enrollment at the primary level still stands tall compared to other countries within the East African region.

Rev. Ronald Okello, a senior educationist who is also the education executive secretary at the Uganda episcopal conference, attributes the drastic shift to changing attitudes of parents and community which have embraced the fact that all children regardless of gender deserve equal opportunity in education.

“This has not come at a silver plate, it has been toil by all stakeholders including government, non-government organizations and different religious groups. In fact, in some areas like in Northern Uganda, parents have been paid or given several incentives to take their girls children to school,” says Rev Okello.

Rev Okello says that although the gender parity for enrollment at the lower level of education seems to be achieved broadly, there may be a gender gap concerning age-appropriate enrollment which also needs to be looked at urgently.

He further adds that although the enrollment gender gap has significantly reduced at the moment, there is a possibility that in near future there will be affirmative action initiative to support the boy child who is seemingly being ignored.

Patrick Kaboyo, the National Secretary Federation of Non-State Education Institutions notes that whereas the report is spot on the enrollment at the primary level, fewer girls remain in school.

Kaboyo argues that most of the programmes have kept their focus on access to education than the completion and quality.

“When you go to any nursery school, you will see that there are more girls. But all these numbers drop along the way. Therefore, we need refocus the system and look at how we can keep these girls enrolled at school,” says Kaboyo.

Several reports have blamed the high dropout rate of girls in Uganda to several factors including but not limited to early marriages and poverty.

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