Long distance walk forcing Apac learners out of school

Apac, Uganda | URN | Long walks to school are forcing dozens of children in Aganga Parish to stay away from school. This has exposed many to school dropout, early marriage, and teenage pregnancy, local leaders have said. Children from Abade village, for example, currently walk about 10 kilometers to either Igoti Primary School or Chakali Primary School, a journey community leaders say is too demanding for many young learners.

As a result, some pupils report to school late, while others have abandoned education altogether. Although there is no statistical percentage of school dropout rates for Ibuje Sub-county, data indicates that Apac District experiences dropout rates as high as 50 percent to 8 percent in some rural sub-counties.

The LC1 Chairperson of Abade Village, Patrick Opio, said the absence of a nearby government primary school has remained the biggest obstacle to education in the area despite repeated appeals to the authorities. According to him, most learners resort to fishing instead of going to school.

To keep children in school, residents mobilized themselves and raised six million shillings to purchase four acres of land for the proposed government primary school after officials reportedly cited lack of land as the main barrier to the project. However, despite acquiring the required land, construction has yet to begin.

For now, a local initiative is bridging the education gap in the area. A resident donated land for the establishment of Divine Nursery and Primary School, a private school which currently has enrolled 250 pupils, offering classes up to Primary Five.

However, the Director of Divine Nursery and Primary School, Santos Odongo, said the intervention has only partly addressed the problem because many families cannot afford tuition and other scholastic requirements.

He noted that literacy levels in Abade continue to lag behind neighboring villages because children still lack access to affordable education. He implored the government to consider improving infrastructure in the area to allow learners access to education.

Uganda provides free primary education through the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program, but many rural communities continue to face challenges accessing the program due to the limited distribution of government schools. Education experts have long warned that long walking distances discourage attendance, especially among younger children, and increase the risk of school dropout.

Opio said residents have on several occasions petitioned district authorities to establish a government primary school in the village, but the requests have not yielded results. Alex Ogota, the LCIII Chairperson of Ibuje Sub-county, acknowledged that Abade remains one of the underserved areas in the sub-county. He urged residents to formally table their request before the sub-county council so it can be forwarded to the district council for consideration.

Ogota said the sub-county is implementing measures to improve education standards, although school dropout and poor access to education remain persistent challenges in some parishes. He also appealed to parents to support their children’s education by resisting the temptation to keep them at home for domestic chores or agricultural work.

Apac District Secretary for Education, Jasper Odongo, said the district leadership is aware of the four acres of land acquired by the community and that the matter will be presented before the district council. He revealed that the previous district council had already resolved to establish an annex of Igoti Primary School in Abade, adding that the district now intends to implement that resolution.

He also highlighted some challenges that are affecting learning in schools across the district.

Residents hope that the implementation of the council resolution will finally bring a government primary school closer to their children, reducing dropout rates and improving access to education in one of Apac District’s most underserved communities