Children decry lack of female teachers in school

Jul 15, 2015

For the last two years Kinju Primary School in Nebbi district has not had a single female teacher.

By Cecilia Okoth

For the last two years Kinju Primary School in Nebbi district has not had a single female teacher.

This leaves the girl child unattended to as most of them keep quiet with some of the challenges they face especially during their menstruation period.

Aldo Onegi, an English teacher at the school said older girls take charge of the younger girls.

However, he noted that more girls have continuously dropped out of the school, a move he attributes to lack of female teachers in the school.

Onegi was speaking on the sidelines of a programme learning workshop on Violence Against Children (VAC) in Schools in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, in response to what one of the pupils raised as some of the challenges they face in their school.

The workshop organized by Elevate children funders group comprising charitable foundations that prioritize solutions to prevent violence and family separation was held at Hotel Africana yesterday.

The theme was, "Developing a common learning agenda on preventing and responding to VAC in and around schools: lessons from research and practice.

"We do not have female teachers in our school. The girls at school fear opening up to male teachers because they do not handle our complaints well," said Tracy Anirwoth, a primary six pupil at the school.

Anirwoth, a representative of the children's body at her school said most girls only rely on the help of parents who live near the school.

But Onegi said the issue was raised to management which has done nothing to date.

He said the school has 12 male teachers, teaching a population of 842 pupils, 392 of whom are girls.

In 2013, Onegi said they had two female teachers but unfortunately one died and the other was transferred to another school.

"Female teachers like teaching in town. They hate villages and parents have often accused us of not wanting female teachers in the school but that is not the case," Onegi added.
However, Fred Onduri Machulu the Commissioner Youth and Children Affairs at the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development described the absentia of female teachers at the school as an anomaly.

"Initially a mixed school is supposed to have both female and male teachers. The female teachers help in advising girls as they pass through certain circumstances," Onduri said.

"The school may be faced with scarcity of qualified teachers as some go to urban outsets especially in the central region," He said, adding that they are victims of brain drain.

Geoffrey Okila, the District Education Officer Nebbi district said they were aware of the situation and had deployed a female teacher to teach at the school.

"However, there was a misunderstanding between her and a co-wife who hails from the same area and was threatening her with death if she set foot at the school," Okila said.

He added that some female teachers simply refuse to teach in rural schools, decrying the poor housing conditions like licking huts while others have gone back to their districts of origin, posing a challenge to the education system in the district.

Nebbi district has 166 schools and a total of 111,545 primary school pupils. Out of 1823 teachers the district has, 400 are female teachers.

Also present at the workshop were pupils from Kibanga Primary School in Kalangala district who complained about the corporal punishments they face at school.

Representing pupils of her school, Olivia Ndagire, a primary seven pupil said some teachers beat pupils for failing to pay school fees on time while others subject them to harsh punishments like digging the whole day.

In his opening remarks, Suleiman Madada the State Minister for the elderly and persons with disability said all forms of VAC is unacceptable.

"Corporal punishments are not applicable in this day and age. This mentally tortures children and as a result, some run away while others fail to complete school," Madada said.

He called for counseling in as compared to caning children.

Related to the story


Girl child education: An unresolved battle

She fenced off schools to foster girl-child education


Menstruation: no girl child must be disadvantaged


 

 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});