July 19, 2024 – The Karamoja Sub-Region, one the poorest and most challenged areas and has the lowest literacy rates of the country, with less than 24% compared to the national average of 72%. To ensure that the region can aim for a future where no one is left behind, it is essential to focus on education and advocate for higher school enrolment and retention, finding concrete ways to promote the right to education.
As WPDI works directly with local communities to help them develop solutions to their challenges, education remains central to our activities on the ground, notably through our Conflict Resolution Education in schools. Through this platform, our youth leaders bring peace education skills directly into the classroom and mobilize their students to carry out advocacy campaigns, with the goal of transforming communities from the inside.
Education is unsurprisingly a key focus of these campaigns. While the right to education is universal, obstacles to its enforcement are often highly local and rooted in deep-seated attitudes and behaviors. These issues cannot be properly identified, let alone addressed, without the full involvement of all stakeholders, ranging from children to adults. Before conducting WPDI-run advocacy campaigns in schools, teachers engage in a fact-finding mission to identify the unique issues affecting each institution.
In Karamoja, teachers identified several factors contributing to this negative behavior, including bad peer influence, students’ negative attitudes towards learning, delayed responses to student concerns leading to strikes, and lack of parental guidance at home. Additionally, challenges highlighted by teachers included ineffective communication methods and misunderstandings about child rights, which hindered efforts to maintain discipline and a conducive learning environment in schools.
To address these challenges, WPDI youth advocates carried out advocacy campaigns in 23 schools, both primary and secondary. These schools include Moroto High School, Moroto Parents SSS, Nadunget SSS, Namalu SSS, St. Kizito Secondary School, Kangole Girls SSS, Katikit Primary School, Lia, Nakapelimen, Pilas, Moroto Demo, Child Jesus, and Kakoliye Muslim Primary School, among others.
The primary focus was on addressing indiscipline and teenage pregnancy, particularly among upper primary classes. Indiscipline was found to be pervasive across many schools, prompting the creation of advocacy messages aimed at encouraging students to prioritize their studies and behave responsibly. Messages such as “Stay in school and concentrate in class”, “Education is the key to success”, and “Discipline is the key to success” were tailored to resonate with students facing issues like skipping classes, fighting, theft, tardiness, and poor hygiene.
The students actively participated in the advocacy campaigns, which involved the entire school community. Each school had unique advocacy messages tailored to their needs, addressing issues such as the dangers of alcoholism, poor academic performance, early pregnancy, and indiscipline. “During today’s advocacy campaign, various indiscipline issues were thoroughly discussed, such as fighting, disrespecting teachers, stealing, using abusive language, skipping classes, and drinking alcohol. The pupils learned about the negative consequences of indiscipline, including poor academic performance, absenteeism, high school dropout, and even imprisonment. These behaviors can significantly impact our standards of living,” said Lolem Regina, 14 years old, Primary Six, Kasemeri Primary School.
The targeted advocacy campaigns in Karamoja’s schools have provided an efficient and tailored platform for addressing the critical challenges faced by students. By engaging students and teachers in these initiatives, WPDI is helping local communities take significant steps towards improving literacy rates and fostering a more conducive learning environment in the region. Continued efforts and investments in education will be vital in ensuring lasting change and development in Karamoja.
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