Africa-Press – Uganda. Over 100 parents in Mukono District have abandoned their children suggesting job loss and economic incapacities triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, authorities in Mukono said.
Consequently, hundreds of children in the area have resorted to illicit activities and child labor.
“More than 70 children have been arrested in the municipality in an operation carried out by municipal officials together with police in the last three weeks,” Mukono Municipality Mayor Mr Elisa Nkoyoyo Mukasa said.
Parents of the arrested little ones claim they have abandoned their children since “they can’t support them anymore.”
“I was working with some Non-government organization. Unfortunately, I lost the job and have tried to look for any other opportunities so that I can be able to take back my children to school but I have failed,” Amos Kiwanuka, a parent of four children and resident of Lwanyonyi Village in Mukono District told this reporter.
For the mother of two, Halima Zulaika, her husband left home in 2021 in sheer abdication of domestic responsibilities and has never returned.
“I am not working and therefore have no money to keep my children in school that’s why I leave them to engage in different activities so that they can get what to eat,” Ms Zulaika said during the weekend.
“I had a meeting with them and advised them to take back their children, to go and discuss with school heads so that the children can have a right to education,” Mr.Nkoyoyo said.
Municpal Mayor Mr Nkoyoyo expressed worry over the escalating numbers of school drop-outs in his area as the Mukono Diocese Bishop William Ssebagala condemned parents for denying children education.
“Parents of today just sit home and send children to work where they involve in bad acts thus increasing on crimes in the country, ” Bishop Ssebagala opined.
The prelate emphasized that parents have a vital role to play in properly grooming children.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in March 2022 observed that “around 1 in 10 schoolchildren did not report back to school in January 2022 after schools were closed for two years in Uganda over Covid-19.”
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