The State Minister for Higher Education, John Chrysestom Muyingo has said it is appalling that some sections of the public are against the move by government to ensure girls who got pregnant during the Covid lockdown and any other teenage mothers continue with studies.
"There are accidents that have seen our children end as child mothers but need to be protected and loved .As government, we say that after somebody has produced , she should be allowed back into the education system. This is the message we are sending out .Some people are not happy with this decision but are not happy because of ignorance. These people are Ugandans and are one of the most important resources the country has and must be given value whenever possible," Muyingo said.
Muyingo was on Thursday speaking during the opening ceremony of the two day National Safe to Learn Symposium aimed to share progress and agree on key actions to create safe learning environments organized at Speke Resort Hotel Munyonyo in Kampala.
Speaking during the function, Minister Muyingo described the pregnancies that school children got during the lockdown as "an accident" but noted that they should not be condemned but rather accepted back into the education system.
If an accident happened, make all arrangement to ensure this child to ensure she returns to school. Government has come up with policy that every learner should be helped to go to stay, stay there, get skilled until he or she is in position to contribute to development of the country. These child mothers have big contribution to make and we should protect them and enable them get to education mainstream as fast as possible."
Muyingo said the Education Ministry is grappling with other emerging concerns resulting from unfriendly environment for children in the country like the adolescent pregnancies.
He quoted Ministry of Health statistics indicating that between March 2020 and September 2021, over 350,000 adolescents between eight and 19 years were attending antenatal care at various health facilities across the country.
"That is a very big number. I feel this is totally alarming and puts our country in a dilemma. I believe that if we don't save our young generations from falling into such problems, it will undermine our development goals and vision 2040. This therefore calls for concerned efforts to address the root causes of the problem of teenage pregnancy,"Muyingo said.
He noted that government has put in place efforts to prevent violence against children as well as mechanisms to address the problem of negative social norms that negatively impact children.
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Tool kit for safe learning environment
At the same event, government launched the life skills tool kit that will give skills to children to ensure they go through challenges they face at school, home and in the communities as one of the ways to ensure a safe learning environment for them.
According to Minister Muyingo, the tool kit will guide children at home, on the way and at school on how to deal with challenges they face.
According to Rosette Nanyanzi, a Gender Technical Advisor in the Ministry of Education and Sports, the tool kit will guide children on how to go about gender challenges and how to live in the environment.
"The information that a child gets from the tool kit will guide him or her on how to deal with the challenges but to also make decision about his life. It will be used by teachers to teach children using school clubs to impart skills. It is for the entire country and targeting children between 10 and 18 years who are adolescents," Nanyanzi said.
She noted that the tool kit has been distributed to Karamoja region, West Nile and Western Uganda, especially the refugee settings and now going to colleges.
"Teachers will be taught through our college structures where we have centre coordinating tutors to also monitor the use of the tool kit. ."
