Africa-Press – Uganda. When Eunice Atimango’s medical results confirmed her pregnancy in mid-2021, her hopes of securing a medical career in future dampened.
At 16, the pregnancy implied a loss of trust from her family, who during the Covid-19 lockdown, could barely afford medication and food.
Like many other girls whose education was disrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak and the resulting lockdown that saw schools closed for two years, Atimango was rendered hopeless upon dropping out of school until she joined Kworo High School.
Initially, the institution started as a learning facility to provide education to child mothers dating back to 2008 following the end of the 20-year-old Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency.
The facility is now offering a second chance to child mothers.
Together with her daughter aged 2, Atimango joined a school located in Purongo Town Council, Nwoya District.
“I was hesitant because attending classes while breastfeeding is abnormal in our education setup but when they told me the school provides a separate environment that gives us an opportunity to learn as l raise my child, I didn’t give it a second thought,” Atimango says.
“I wake up, just like my mates, dress up and l leave my baby with attendants, without having to worry about her safety while I attend class. The school has a childcare facility where the learners leave their babies while they learn,” she adds.
Atimango is now assured that her dream of becoming a medical doctor is not dead.
She is one of the 213 young women with similar situations who have been admitted to this facility with their babies.
When press visited the school, which is a boarding facility, we found that some of the learners are orphans or vulnerable children caused by the LRA insurgency.
For example, 19-year-old Juliana Katusiime, an orphan, got pregnant under her grandmother’s care from Kiryandongo District in 2021.
The unbearable treatment she went through, she says, forced her to elope with a motorist in Kiryandongo Town, hoping it would improve but it instead worsened in 2021.
“I got pregnant and the man kicked me out of his house. My grandmother also decided to throw me out of her house and asked me to return to my father’s home.That was when I found myself at crossroads,” Katusiime says.
Challenges
In her dad’s remote village in Kiryandongo District, a neighbour tipped her father about Kworo High School.
“But I still could not believe that I would make it in class together with my child in the same environment,” she says.
Katusiime always dreamt of becoming a nurse so that she could return and serve her community, a dream she says now will be made possible once she resumes her studies.
While at the school, teen mothers wake up in the morning and wash their babies’ dirty clothes. They then bathe the babies and feed them before dropping them at the day care facility. The day care has three caregivers who look after the babies.
The mothers/ learners attend classes until 5pm when they go to pick up the babies.
Ms Dorcus Abwono, the school head teacher, says providing education to teen mothers along with their babies comes with a challenge on the side of the school because these girls come from vulnerable backgrounds.
“One of the challenges is that their background may not allow them to have everything like they ought to. We expect these babies to have enough clothes like sweaters and the rest but these babies are not clothed well,” Ms Abwono says.
Adding: “From home, they normally come without anything. lt’s upon the school to provide for them so the little we have we endeavour to let them have the best they can have.”
Despite the overwhelming challenges, Ms Abwono says their achievement as a school is quite notable.
The institution has since supported over 500 girls and is currently boasting a total enrolment of 700 learners comprising orphans, child mothers and destitute young girls, Ms Alice Achan the director of the facility, says.
“The support the parents have given the school and the commitment of the girls to prove to society that pregnancy is not the end of their education life has contributed to their success. We believe that the only way to secure the future of girls in Uganda is through education,” she says.
Kworo High School currently has three campuses in Nwoya, Pader and Kitgum districts. The Nwoya campus, according to Ms Achan, is specifically dedicated to learners who have babies.
Ms Achan appealed for government support to enable the institution to deliver its mandate, “The Ministry of Education, if they could allocate a budget, even say take the teachers on payroll and as Te-kworo foundation, we struggle for running day to day.”
Currently, the three campuses have 700 learners in total but only 300 learners have secured scholarships hence the need for government intervention.
Ms Achan says the parents of the girls are asked to pay Shs100,000 as fees.
STAKEHOLDERS SPEAK
Eunice Atimango, teenage mother: “I was hesitant because attending classes while breastfeeding is abnormal in our education setup but when they told me the school provides a separate environment that gives us an opportunity to learn as l raise my child, I didn’t give it a second thought.”
Dorcus Abwono, school head teacher: “One of the challenges is that their background may not allow them to have everything like they ought to. We expect these babies to have enough clothes like sweaters and the rest but these babies are not clothed well.”
Alice Achan, director of the facility: “The support the parents have given the school and the commitment of the girls to prove to society that pregnancy is not the end of their education life has contributed to their success. We believe that the only way to secure the future of girls in Uganda is through education.”
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