Uganda lauded on prevention of teenage pregnancies in schools

By Umar Weswala:

Dr. Mary (R) chatting with VP Alupo (C) 

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Representative Dr. Mary Otieno has lauded the government of Uganda for coming up with and implementing strategies aimed at preventing as well as managing cases of teenage pregnancies in school settings.

Doctor Mary Otieno was speaking at a national event in commemoration of the World Population Day 2023, held at Alebtong Boma grounds in Alebtong District (Lango Sub-Region) on 11^th July.

In her remarks, she singled out the `Revised Guidelines on the prevention and management of teenage pregnancies in school settings in Uganda` through the Ministry of Education which she said has given many girls a second chance to pursue their studies, acquire 21^st century skills and live their dreams.

She gave an example of Deborah Atai, a young mother she met during last year’s World Population Day commemorations in Kumi District.

VP Jessica Alupo

Becoming a mother in her teens, Deborah was forced to live with her partner and one unintended pregnancy led to two more unplanned for pregnancies for this young teenage girl, who had now dropped out of school and was also unemployed. Her future seemed bleak to her but with support from UNFPA supported partners in sexual reproductive health and taking advantage of the ‘Revised Guidelines on the prevention and management of teenage pregnancies in school settings,’ Deborah was made the decision to go back to school.

Today, Deborah is a youth councilor in her home district of Kalaki and will be sitting her senior four final exams this year.

Full of courage and determination, she is inspiring different girls in her community and hopes to continue to pursue her dream of being a woman Member of Parliament.

Dr. Otieno says that UNFPA through partners is working hard to create a world where every young girl in the position similar to Deborah’s can be able have and live her dream in addition to contributing to the national economic and social transformation.

In Uganda, this year’s world population day was celebrated under the theme: “Prioritize Education: prevent school dropouts and increase household incomes”. 

Much as gender parity has been achieved in lower primary levels in Uganda, school dropout rates among girls are high at upper primary and secondary levels with teenage pregnancy being the number one cause of these dropouts.

Dr. Mary Delivering her remarks 

The UNFPA Country Representative says early school drop out in late primary and early secondary school years, stand in the way of many girls to acquire marketable skills and career formation for turning the country’s abundant human resource into human capital. 

“This makes it more difficult for the country to improve livelihoods and stay on course for harnessing the demographic dividend and subsequently attaining Uganda’s vision 2040” she said.

She said that, besides the girls, UNFPA stands with all the 45.6 million Ugandan in their work to claim their rights and make their own choices, noting that; only this will lead to a future that will bring equality and prosperity to all.

In a speech read for him by the Vice President Jessica Alupo, President Museveni said that the 2023 World Population Day theme is in line with the priorities of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government which are; to guarantee education for all children, good health for all people, and jobs and wealth for all the homesteads in Uganda.

Dr. Mary Otieno

These, he stated are the conditions for achieving the goal of social economic transformation of society.

“The population must be educated and highly skilled, healthy i.e. free of diseases in order to increase their life expectancy and embrace the modality of working for money in the four sectors of commercial agriculture, industries, services and ICT” Museveni stated in his speech.

According to President Museveni, the phenomenon of school dropouts is preventable.

He says, it is caused by the extra fees that school authorities have illegally introduced in the UPE and USE programs.

“The NRM introduced these programs (Universal Primary and Secondary Education) to help the poor families to educate their children. It is therefore unacceptable for school authorities to continue charging extra fees. This is keeping children out of school and jeopardizing their future” Museveni stated without mentioning possible actions that could be taken against such schools.

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Uganda Dr. Karin Boven was represented by Ms. Judith Adokorach, the Policy Officer at the Embassy.

In her remarks read by Judith Adokorach, Ambassador Karin said that, the world population day is a moment to reflect and re-strategize on the population challenges affecting the nation’s social economic development.

Ms. Adokorach

She stated that the EU member states stand in solidarity with Uganda in commemorating this year’s world population day.

Speaking to the day’s theme, the Dutch Ambassador stated;

“The EU member states commend Uganda for the programs so far made with advancing education rights for all. At the same time, we acknowledge that Uganda is still faced with challenges in providing quality and accessible basic education to children and adolescents.”

While every child has a right to learn and access quality education to fulfill their potential, unfortunately this right is not a lived reality for many children.

Child marriage, teenage pregnancy, abuse at school and financial challenges at household level are some of the driving factors for school drop outs in Uganda.

Going forward, Ambassador Karin revealed that team Europe plans to invest an approximate of 800 million Euros (over UGX 3 billion) over the period 2020 to 2025 across these five pillars of; Sexual and reproductive health and rights, Sexual and gender based violence, Education, WASH and Social protection.

The Ambassador urged the government of Uganda to invest in the social, economic and political potentials of the young people and create an enabling environment within which they can utilize their knowledge and skills. These, she said are all critical requirements for sustainable development.

This year’s world Population Day commemorations were hosted by Alebtong District not only people it had the capacity to do so but also because the school dropout and teenage pregnancy statistics portray the Lango Sub-Region badly.

In Lango Sub Region, teenage pregnancy stands at 28%; above the national average of 25%. According to local media reports, Lango Sub-Region registered 23,000 teenage pregnancies in 2021 alone.

During the youth dialogue, Local leaders’ dialogue and the main event, Lango local government leaders, youth leaders and members of parliament made commitments to avert the state of affairs by working with each other, with government, with grass root influencers and the civil society.

The Alebtong District Chairperson who is also the Chairperson of LCV Chairpersons in Lango Sub-Region, Dickens Kennedy Odongo outlined some of the planned interventions, saying that they will not tolerate children having children in Lango.

He said they will embark on promoting girl child education until completion, law enforcement against perpetrators of teenage pregnancy, community sensitization against negative cultural practices, empowering both in and out of school girls and boys with age appropriate sexuality education and life skills and increasing access to youth friendly reproductive health information and services.

He said all the above coupled with strong social protection policies and laws will reduce teenage pregnancy and increase school retention and completion for both girls and boys.

The National Population Council (NPC) which is the government’s lead agency on population matters dispatched the Board Chair Dr. Fred Wabwire Mangeni and the Director General Dr. Jotham Musigunzi who coordinated the whole commemoration activities with support from UNFPA - The UN Sexual Reproductive Health Agency.