Pupils miss PLE due to early marriage

Nov 05, 2009

PRIMARY school girls in Mityana district missed their Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) after dropping out of school due to pregnancy and early marriages.

By Luke Kagiri

PRIMARY school girls in Mityana district missed their Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) after dropping out of school due to pregnancy and early marriages.

He said 34 pupils from 18 schools dropped out after registering for PLE. Out of those, 24 were girls, he added.
The boys who missed the exams are engaged in businesses like farming.

The district inspector of schools, Lawrence Kamya, said early marriages and pregnancies were the leading cause of school dropouts in the district.

Kamya said at Kalangaalo Primary School in Bulera sub-county, 88 pupils registered for PLE, but five dropped out. He said three of them were girls, who were pregnant at the time. At Mbaliga Umea in Busimbi sub-county, 143 pupils had registered but six of them left.

He said two of these were girls, who are said to have already given birth while two others were still pregnant.
At Ssekanyonyi Primary School in Ssekanyonyi sub-county, out of the 172, three left school, of whom two were pregnant.

Other schools that have registered dropouts included St. Jude Kitinkokola, which had four dropouts, Naama Umea, with one girl and Kiryokya C/U, where two girls left.

Head teachers, who spoke to The New Vision, attributed the dropouts to the liberty given to the pupils.

“In government-aided schools, we find it hard to discipline children. Children behave in any way they want. Some come late to school, others keep dodging lessons,” a head teacher lamented.

Others said the high level of poverty was raising the rate of school dropouts.
“Most of the boys abandon studies to engage in business. Some cannot afford to buy exercise books.” another head teacher pointed out.

“These girls need a lot of things. Many parents cannot afford sanitary pads. You keep helping them until you get tired and short of money. At the end, they get a bodaboda cyclist to give them money,” another head teacher narrated.

According to Nathan Matovu, the district CID chief, defilement is one of the most reported offences.

He said over 161 defilement cases were reported between January and September this year.

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