Minister Kaducu recruits school heads in the war against teenage marriage

The State Minister for Primary Education, Ms Joyce Moriku Kaducu, has challenged all school heads and teachers at all levels to “fight hard” and end teenage and early pregnancies among school-going children.

According to Ms Kaducu, both teenage pregnancies and early marriages are a source of humiliation to all stakeholders, arguing that teachers need to be on the forefront of the fight in schools.

As a good start, she asked teachers to guide female learners on the right time and age to get married.

“You teachers need to be role models to our young girls in your schools. Help them achieve their dreams in future. Teenage pregnancy is at alarming rate and we need to stand together and end the vice,” she said.

Ms Kaducu also remarked that the government, through her ministry launched a campaign to eradicate child marriages, prevent teenage pregnancies and consequently promote good parents.

This all transpired on Friday during the awarding ceremony of certificates to 33 secondary school teachers who completed the first phase of training at Canon Apollo PTC in Fort Portal City in western Uganda.

Data reveals a significant number of school going children reportedly impregnated or married off, sparking public discourse on whether schools should consider allowing pregnant learners back.

The Intergovernmental Authority Development (IGAD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education And Sports and the German cooperation (GIZ-BMZ) through the IGAD-GIZ teachers training initiative trained secondary teachers from refugee host districts in Uganda.

The training focuses on helping teachers deliver quality education on displacement affected communities. The teachers were from the districts of Kamwenge, Kyegegwa, Isingiro and Kikuube.

Minister Kaducu tasked the trained teachers to use the acquired skills to improve learning in their respective schools.

She argued that People wanted to see a difference in them, and further expressed her optimism in the impact of the trained teachers as far as improvement in education standards is concerned.

According to the head of IGAD mission in Uganda, Ms Lucy Daxbacher, they trained 100 teachers during the first phase of the training.

“The purpose of this training is to improve quality education in the refugee host communities because the refugees also have the right to access quality education,” she said.

Teachers have been able to learn pedagogical, social-psychological, ICT competencies and life skills in this four-month training that started in August 2021.