Africa-Press – Uganda. The First Lady and Minister of Education, Ms Janet Museveni, has flagged off a Shs3b classroom construction programme to benefit nine districts.
The programme, which was flagged off at Buteme Primary School in Kamuli District, involves constructing 67 classrooms and 53 improved WASH facilities in Yumbe, Obongi, Adjumani, Buyende, Kamuli, Alebtong, Lira, Nebbi, and Madi-Okollo Districts.
In a speech read for her by the State Minister of Health in charge of primary healthcare, Ms Margaret Muhanga, Ms Museveni called for the mobilisation of children’s enrollment, retention, and completion of school.
She noted that the education of children requires a collaborative effort by all those who have influence over their lives, beginning with their parents and guardians.
This, she said, empowers them (children) to break the cycle of the dependency mindset, which has plagued the younger generation for many years and crippled their creativity and innovation in addressing challenges that arise in every phase of their life.
“However, we must be mindful of how we address these imbalances, lest we paradoxically introduce a new form of social disadvantage, resulting in the boy child resorting to negative coping mechanisms such as Gender Based Violence, addictions, and other abuses to fill the void created by the neglect of their psychosocial needs,” she said on Thursday.
The Minister, calling for sustainable positive change in the lives of children and youth, urged that there is a need to engage young people as leaders and support them to shape their own future.
She assured that her ministry is making all efforts to ensure that the children’s future is secured through the provision of quality education and this is achieved through collective efforts from parents, development partners, and government.
“I applaud these efforts to create a conducive learning environment for children, which brings Uganda closer to meeting our Vision 2040 goals as well as the Sustainable Development Goal 4 to: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” Ms Museveni added.
The Rising Project, an education initiative to construct classrooms to support children’s quality and inclusive learning delivered by Plan International and Strømme Foundation, aims to reach 100,000 children, particularly girls who are most at risk of never returning to school.
Carron Beaumont-Head of Programme Implementation at Plan International Uganda highlighted the need to break barriers that threaten children’s access to quality and inclusive education, and to make deliberate actions to ensure that every child has the opportunity to return to class, particularly those in marginalised and refugee communities.
“Investing in basic school infrastructure is crucial for better learning outcomes, especially at this time where enrolment in education is needed for millions of children who have been affected by ongoing and past conflicts as well as crises and gender inequalities,” said Beaumont.
She explained that the project is in partnership with the Educate A Child programme and is implemented by Plan International Uganda and Strømme Foundation.
“This project will contribute to strengthening children’s access to education through mobilising communities to enroll them in school, construct additional classrooms or rehabilitating existing ones, provide school kits for vulnerable children, and strengthen data collection and school-level reporting,” she added.
On behalf of the beneficiary district chairpersons, Mr Maxwell Kuwembula, the Kamuli LCV chairman, challenged the government to revisit the recruitment ban/ceiling to enable districts to recruit more teachers and health workers to meet the rising number of learners enrolled and challenges of more upgraded health centres and population.
“We are limited in service delivery as many workers have retired, absconded, died, yet we can’t replace them due to recruitment ban for which we implore intervention for better service delivery,” Mr Kuwembula said.
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