“Our fathers sent us to funny schools that taught us how to raid and steal cattle. Now we want to be like other Ugandans and have educated children,” said Paul Lokoliz Agan.
These are the words of a respected elder among the Karimojong during the second community activation launch on Early Childhood Development (ECD) at Lomukura playground in Kotido district, recently.
The National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy (NIECD) was developed by ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in March 2016 and is premised to ensure children’s rights to survival, protection, development and wellbeing.
The NIECD, which is expected to be accommodated in the education ministry over time, targets children from conception up to eight years. In Karamoja region, however, the policy is bound to face grievous challenges none more pronounced than the visible poverty and lack of water.
To get clean water for the day, residents must queue by 6am. But this is no guarantee that one will actually get the water early enough, since the pressure from the pump reduces by 10am. Consequently, the cost of water, when obtained in the neighbourhood is a hefty Shs200 per jerrycan. With hardly any sustainable income in the area, the residents can only afford to trek over 5km to fetch water from the nearest natural wells and public boreholes.
“The boreholes are too far and the water is too salty,” says Teddy Achola, a mother of a one-year-old son in Lomukura trading centre.
“In the afternoon, there is no water (from the taps). We are really struggling but have to bear with the situation. If you don’t have water, you have to buy from the wheel cart at Shs 1,000 per jerrycan,” she says.
The financial and sanitation toll the lack of water takes on families and more so on children’s education is obvious. Many are not able to attend school, as they are too busy fetching water, or too exhausted after that to consider studying. The farther you go into the villages, the worse it gets, says Mariam, a mother of three children all under 10 years.
Keno Maracello, a law enforcement officer in Karamoja, says both parents and children have abandoned their cardinal roles. The police arrest 20-30 children daily on average. These are usually found loitering the streets.
“When we arrest them, we call the parents to try to talk to the children. Some come, others don’t. And for those who send the children to school, the children don’t want to go,” he says.
Indeed, Aisha Hamisi, a caregiver at Kotido Muslim Early Education Centre, confirms that the number of children going to school is recently going down, at least at her school. The centre had 45 pupils last year but just 30 this year. She admits that the Shs 50,000 parents pay in fees, is too high but the centre insists on it since it gets no support from the local government or the various NGOs in the region.
“Because parents failed to pay, we could no longer offer posho and beans to the pupils. Now we just give them porridge with some little sugar. In fact parents used to send their children to school, so that they can come and get a meal,” Hamisi explains.
She adds that many parents in the Karamoja region believe early childhood development is free since they don’t see any ‘learning’ at the centres. Parents think they are just play centres.
However, Hamisi is convinced that the ‘playing’ the parents think is happening at the centres is actually learning, which calls for specialised tools like water paint, boards and charts, among others. When her pupils were offered painting sessions in the Save the Children tent, some mistook it for juice and attempted to drink it.
“It is because they are not exposed,” she defended them.
“We do a lot of talking which we are not supposed to do … we don’t have the necessary tools.” She argues that the best way to express oneself to the child is not by talking.
“The eyes of the child are in their fingers. The walls, the boards should be talking, not the teachers,” she adds.
Catherine Ntabadde Makumbi, the communications specialist at Unicef, says the policy is a comprehensive approach, offering strategies for good health, nutrition and sanitation environments for better growth of children.
She says from zero to two years, the early learning lies solely with the children’s parents/family. From three to five years, the child accesses learning centres from where they learn inter-personal relations with fellow pupils.
According to Unicef, the learning centres (known as kindergartens elsewhere) are a new project being implemented in Karamoja as a way of improving learning outcomes there.
Only a handful of centres have been established in Kotido. It is hoped that with the education ministry planning to reserve a classroom at each primary school for ECD, the influence of this level of learning will grow further.
fkisakye@observer.ug