Tororo district local leaders launch back to school campaign

Tororo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Leaders of Kisoko sub county in Tororo district have launched a campaign to persuade children to return to school when schools reopen next year.

The Ministry of Education set January 10 as the official date education institutions will reopen two years after they were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now, the Kisoko sub-county leaders have resolved to form a task force that will move from one home to another mobilizing parents to prepare their children for school.

The Tororo LCV chairperson John Okea, noted that the district has equally mobilized all sub-county LCIII chairpersons to ensure that all children report to school on January 10.

He said that it will not be easy to dismantle illegal marriages in the sub-counties but he has instructed the LCIII chairpersons to apply some force to the defiant children and parents who will not support the cause and where need be, some parents will be arrested.

Henry Wasenda Nicodemus, the LCI chairperson of Kisoko central said the move is to have all girls including those who got pregnant during the lockdown to get back to school and complete the education cycle.

He said they will register big success because they have been involved as local leaders from the onset pledging to start routine visits to schools to establish students who have absconded.

Desderio Opoya, the LCI chairperson of Pasaya zone expects the task force to face a challenge of parents hiding information regarding their married children since some of them have already picked dowry. He said that the move will promote education in the sub-county and Tororo at large.

Tororo district has registered over 11,480 cases of teenage pregnancies since the lockdown.

Tanga Odoi, the Chairperson of the National Resistance Movement-NRM Electoral Commission says that he will donate to every task force member a bicycle for easy mobilization.

He says that the leaders will also mobilize for scholastic materials to ensure that no child remains at home over lack of scholastic materials.

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