Hundreds at Omwikwamba get opportunity to study
Oct 30, 2007
DESPITE the Government’s initiative to provide free education, many children in Isingiro district do not go to school and others drop out before completing primary level. About 14% of primary school age children are out of school because they do not have funds to buy the requirements, cover long d
By Alice Emasu
and Elvis Basudde
DESPITE the Government’s initiative to provide free education, many children in Isingiro district do not go to school and others drop out before completing primary level. About 14% of primary school age children are out of school because they do not have funds to buy the requirements, cover long distances to school, are forced into early marriages and lack of motivation from their teachers.
The United Nations, Columbia University, United Nations Development Programme and the Government have pledged to improve education and fight poverty in Isingiro.
Ruhiira village in Isingiro was recently chosen to host the Millennium Village Project. This is part of the global effort to help villages in Africa become self-sustainable by 2015.
The project aids poor communities in Africa. To date, it has reached out to 400,000 people in 79 villages.
In Ruhiira, the millennium village project which aids 45,000 people, started last year and ends in 2011. Andrew Mwesigye, the deputy headteacher of Omwikwamba Primary School, one of the four schools benefiting from the project, says before the millennium project started, pupils used to go back to their homes for lunch. They would travel long distances and sometimes many failed to make it back for afternoon classes.
But with the introduction of the school-feeding programme, pupils now have breakfast and lunch at school. Mwesigye says this has helped to reduce absenteeism and late-coming, especially in the afternoon and enrollment has increased from 316 to 599 pupils since the project was implemented. A total of 9,058 children now attend the 18 primary schools in Ruhiira.
The project has renovated one building in Omwikwamba and constructed a kitchen, equipping it with saucepans, plates and cups. The school’s performance has also improved.
“The school is about 50 years old. We had never got a first grade, but since the project started, we managed to get two pupils in first grade last year and the project will sponsor their secondary education,†says Mwesigye.
The project also equipped the school with new methods of farming and provided them with seedlings. Pupils recently planted maize and have harvested 17 sacks. The millennium project installed five water tanks so that the pupils do not walk long distances to fetch water. It has also grown trees around the school to act as wind breakers.
According to Mwesigye, the community contributed stones and bricks, which were used for construction. If the project succeeds in eradicating poverty, the United Nations will go to other African countries and aid 70% of the poor people in rural areas.
Hilda Tusingirwe, the community development coordinator for the millenium project, says they have started specific projects to empower girls in school as well as female teachers. She says the project will start giving sanitary towels to pupils because many drop out of school immediately they start having their periods.
The United Nations is using this model to fight hunger and poverty in villages. A total of $110 (about sh190,000) is invested in each person annually for five years.
Of this, $30 (about sh52,000) should come from the local government, $20 (sh34,000) from international agencies, $50 (sh87,000) from project donors and $10 (17,000) from villages, either in funds or in kind.
The project is implemented in partnership with various institutions, in line with the eight millennium development goals.
and Elvis Basudde
DESPITE the Government’s initiative to provide free education, many children in Isingiro district do not go to school and others drop out before completing primary level. About 14% of primary school age children are out of school because they do not have funds to buy the requirements, cover long distances to school, are forced into early marriages and lack of motivation from their teachers.
The United Nations, Columbia University, United Nations Development Programme and the Government have pledged to improve education and fight poverty in Isingiro.
Ruhiira village in Isingiro was recently chosen to host the Millennium Village Project. This is part of the global effort to help villages in Africa become self-sustainable by 2015.
The project aids poor communities in Africa. To date, it has reached out to 400,000 people in 79 villages.
In Ruhiira, the millennium village project which aids 45,000 people, started last year and ends in 2011. Andrew Mwesigye, the deputy headteacher of Omwikwamba Primary School, one of the four schools benefiting from the project, says before the millennium project started, pupils used to go back to their homes for lunch. They would travel long distances and sometimes many failed to make it back for afternoon classes.
But with the introduction of the school-feeding programme, pupils now have breakfast and lunch at school. Mwesigye says this has helped to reduce absenteeism and late-coming, especially in the afternoon and enrollment has increased from 316 to 599 pupils since the project was implemented. A total of 9,058 children now attend the 18 primary schools in Ruhiira.
The project has renovated one building in Omwikwamba and constructed a kitchen, equipping it with saucepans, plates and cups. The school’s performance has also improved.
“The school is about 50 years old. We had never got a first grade, but since the project started, we managed to get two pupils in first grade last year and the project will sponsor their secondary education,†says Mwesigye.
The project also equipped the school with new methods of farming and provided them with seedlings. Pupils recently planted maize and have harvested 17 sacks. The millennium project installed five water tanks so that the pupils do not walk long distances to fetch water. It has also grown trees around the school to act as wind breakers.
According to Mwesigye, the community contributed stones and bricks, which were used for construction. If the project succeeds in eradicating poverty, the United Nations will go to other African countries and aid 70% of the poor people in rural areas.
Hilda Tusingirwe, the community development coordinator for the millenium project, says they have started specific projects to empower girls in school as well as female teachers. She says the project will start giving sanitary towels to pupils because many drop out of school immediately they start having their periods.
The United Nations is using this model to fight hunger and poverty in villages. A total of $110 (about sh190,000) is invested in each person annually for five years.
Of this, $30 (about sh52,000) should come from the local government, $20 (sh34,000) from international agencies, $50 (sh87,000) from project donors and $10 (17,000) from villages, either in funds or in kind.
The project is implemented in partnership with various institutions, in line with the eight millennium development goals.