Opolot quits smuggling to pursue dream career
Apr 19, 2011
IN the wee hours of the morning, Robert Opolot struggles to get out of bed to prepare for school. Today is a special day because shortly, he sits for a test that will determine whether he will sit for the final Primary Leaving Examinations at the end of the year, or repeat P7.
By Frederick Womakuyu
IN the wee hours of the morning, Robert Opolot struggles to get out of bed to prepare for school.
Today is a special day because shortly, he sits for a test that will determine whether he will sit for the final Primary Leaving Examinations at the end of the year, or repeat P7.
This is what his school, Busia Border Primary School, does to improve academic performance among pupils. The school is located in Busia, a border district in eastern Uganda, on the Kenya-Uganda border. However, the prospects do not look good for this 15-year-old boy.
Opolot has dropped out of school twice to engage in smuggling (black trade) across the border and consequently, often scores low grades, appearing at the bottom of his class.
He has repeated two classes; P5 and P6 before the school, worried about his age and poor background, promoted him automatically even when he was the last in class.
Hailing from a very poor family, with only a single mother to support five children, Opolot dropped out of school in 2006 and engaged in smuggling to support his mother raise the family.
However, a crack down on smuggling by Uganda Revenue Authority made smuggling too risky and a campaign that all children of school-going age should be in the classroom was an opportunity for Opolot.
“I am happy to return to school because I want to become a doctor to help my people. However, my dream may not come to pass due to poverty. I cannot concentrate at school because I worry about my family and I have been out of school for long,†explains Opolot.
According to Busia Border Primary School headmaster, Godfrey Baraza, about 500 children, most of them former smugglers, have re-joined school, increasing the enrollment. He says the school’s enrollment has shot from 1,000 pupils in 2006 to over 2,000 today.
However, the school has only about seven teachers and lacks classroom blocks and textbooks.
Busia district education officer, Barnabas Muniala, says since the crack down on smuggling and introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE), enrollment in primary schools has shot from 40,000 in 1997 to 91,346 today.
However, the district has a gap of over 300 teachers to fill vacant positions and keep the former smugglers at school. To overcome some of these challenges, the district is recruiting 45 teachers this year and sensitising the community over radio and village meetings to advise parents to take their children back to school.
Opolot recalls that despite smuggling being such a risky venture, they would earn just peanuts since much of the profits would be used in bribery just in case one is caught.
“However, life was okay because I got some little money to help my family,†says Opolot. He walked 24 hours on foot, selling goods at night to escape the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
He carried about two to four jerrycans of fuel everyday. He used the proceeds to buy food and pay rent for the one room the family shares. However, their luck ran out around 2006 when most of them were rounded up by URA Revenue Protection Service.
“This was the time when my boss and so many other big smugglers were also arrested by URA. They also forced all the students of school-going age to go back to school,†he says.
Opolot was one of the students. But he often gets grade U (failing) in class and does not have scholastic materials or uniform. This tempts him to return to smuggling.
IN the wee hours of the morning, Robert Opolot struggles to get out of bed to prepare for school.
Today is a special day because shortly, he sits for a test that will determine whether he will sit for the final Primary Leaving Examinations at the end of the year, or repeat P7.
This is what his school, Busia Border Primary School, does to improve academic performance among pupils. The school is located in Busia, a border district in eastern Uganda, on the Kenya-Uganda border. However, the prospects do not look good for this 15-year-old boy.
Opolot has dropped out of school twice to engage in smuggling (black trade) across the border and consequently, often scores low grades, appearing at the bottom of his class.
He has repeated two classes; P5 and P6 before the school, worried about his age and poor background, promoted him automatically even when he was the last in class.
Hailing from a very poor family, with only a single mother to support five children, Opolot dropped out of school in 2006 and engaged in smuggling to support his mother raise the family.
However, a crack down on smuggling by Uganda Revenue Authority made smuggling too risky and a campaign that all children of school-going age should be in the classroom was an opportunity for Opolot.
“I am happy to return to school because I want to become a doctor to help my people. However, my dream may not come to pass due to poverty. I cannot concentrate at school because I worry about my family and I have been out of school for long,†explains Opolot.
According to Busia Border Primary School headmaster, Godfrey Baraza, about 500 children, most of them former smugglers, have re-joined school, increasing the enrollment. He says the school’s enrollment has shot from 1,000 pupils in 2006 to over 2,000 today.
However, the school has only about seven teachers and lacks classroom blocks and textbooks.
Busia district education officer, Barnabas Muniala, says since the crack down on smuggling and introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE), enrollment in primary schools has shot from 40,000 in 1997 to 91,346 today.
However, the district has a gap of over 300 teachers to fill vacant positions and keep the former smugglers at school. To overcome some of these challenges, the district is recruiting 45 teachers this year and sensitising the community over radio and village meetings to advise parents to take their children back to school.
Opolot recalls that despite smuggling being such a risky venture, they would earn just peanuts since much of the profits would be used in bribery just in case one is caught.
“However, life was okay because I got some little money to help my family,†says Opolot. He walked 24 hours on foot, selling goods at night to escape the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
He carried about two to four jerrycans of fuel everyday. He used the proceeds to buy food and pay rent for the one room the family shares. However, their luck ran out around 2006 when most of them were rounded up by URA Revenue Protection Service.
“This was the time when my boss and so many other big smugglers were also arrested by URA. They also forced all the students of school-going age to go back to school,†he says.
Opolot was one of the students. But he often gets grade U (failing) in class and does not have scholastic materials or uniform. This tempts him to return to smuggling.