Conference on girl child education opens in Kampala

EDUCATION

KAMPALA - Uganda is holding a two-day symposium on girl child education organised for stakeholders to reflect on the gains registered regarding the education of the girl child.

In recent years, government has been promoting girl child education and statistics from the education ministry show that the enrollment of girls in primary schools is on a steady rise - although a lot more still needs to be done.

The two-day conference opens today at Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala.

The director of basic and secondary education, Ismail Mulindwa, said the conference will also be used to discuss the challenges and gaps in the promotion of the girl child education.

It will also help them in laying new strategies for getting and retaining girls in schools.

Mulindwa remarked that government developed a strategy on girl child education in 2004 and reviewed it in 2015. Another one was developed later and has also been reviewed.

"Girls are not doing as well as boys in Maths and Science yet innovations are driving the world today. We want to get more girls skilled by getting them enrolled in Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) institutions," he said.

The ministry is placing emphasis on performance, retention, transition and enrollment.

The gender technical advisor in the ministry, Angella Nakafeero, said that while girls' enrollment in pre-primary school shows an improvement, it still low in rural areas. She said the number of girls enrolled in lower primary (P1- P4) has been growing but dropping in upper primary (P5 - P7) classes.

"So things are not as good as expected. we have challenges in quality, retention and transition."