Female Lawyers under the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers - (FIDA), have launched a countrywide campaign to ensure that girls who are in school, manage to finish school.

According to their concept note, FIDA’s campaign is a response to the alarming dropout rates of girls in school.

“Female literacy rates lag behind those of males (49% compared to 69%) and gender gaps widen at secondary and tertiary school levels. 19% percent of women aged 6 and older have never had any formal education while 8% of

women have completed primary school.” FIDA says.

The campaign which is spearheaded by FIDA’s Legal officers in the various districts started in Kabale, where pupils told FIDA that some of their friends fail to complete school because they lack role models among other reasons

It has now moved to Lwengo, Kamuli and other districts across the country.

The campaign hopes that by keeping girls in school, the quality of economic participation in Uganda’s economy will increase.  Currently, about 76% of women are active in the labour force, they are mostly concentrated in the agricultural sector, a sector characterized by low skill levels; low wages and vulnerable jobs.

According to FIDA, 33% of women in agricultural work are more likely not to be paid for their work.

“Education of a woman increases her chances of working in professional, technical and managerial occupations  where she will be paid.” FIDA says.

Dropout rates have been a worrying trend in Uganda’s education system, and it is always evident at the beginning of the year when school results are announced, with a Uganda National Examinations report claiming that Over five million Ugandan children of school-going age have dropped out of primary school before P7 in the past 20 years.

According to the UNEB figures, in just two decades, about 12.2 million pupils started primary one but only 6.95 million (57.2 per cent) completed their primary schooling cycles – over 5.2 million (42.8 per cent) dropped out. This means that at least 43 out of every 100 (or four out of every 10) pupils, who started school, dropped out before completing P7.

The dropout rate is more worrying for girls. Of the 6,243,532 female pupils who went through the 15 primary school cycles (P1-P7), only 3,347,348 (53.6 per cent) completed primary seven, while 2,896,184 (46.4 per cent) dropped out.