STOP CHILD LABOR: NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSEMBLY APPEALS
By Masika
Scovia - KALI
“It is absurd that we leave our own gardens
at home to till the school garden instead of studying. I came to school to
study and not to dig...digging soils our uniforms and yet we have to stay in
uniform the whole day.” laments Annet Kabugho a primary.....pupil while Jimmy Baluku (not
real names), a primary five pupil says “I
am disappointed in the teachers who make us dig in the morning instead of
studying, yet they expect us to pass like pupils in other schools. We use a lot
of energy in the morning and yet stay hungry all day since the school doesn’t
provide lunch and few of the pupils afford packing lunch. It is not easy to
work and study on an empty stomach every day. I am forced to doze off in the
afternoon because of the fatigue, hunger and heat”
Annet
Kabugho expressing her feelings in a song during the Neighbourhood Assembly.
These are the voices of pupils at Kinyamaseka primary school in Munkunyu
sub county, Kasese district, that have for the past 6 months been subjected to tilling the school farm instead of studying.
According to monitoring reports by KALI (an IDF grantee) working in the area, a
total of 560 pupils (286 males&304 females) between primary three and seven
classes work on the school’s 4 acre maize farm every morning from 8:00am to
11:00am. This is more than a half of the school because the school’s enrolment
is of 753 pupils (371 males and 382 females).
Whereas the introduction of school gardens initiative by SNV (where the
school gardens work as demonstration gardens) is good because it is geared at
promoting food productivity at house hold level and also provide food for the
teachers; the practice is cheating children of their study hours which will
consequently lead to poor grades. Monitoring reports indicated that pupil
absenteeism had gone high especially in the morning hours, as most pupils tend
to stay at home for fear of working on the school garden. According to the head
teacher, Mr. Bathlemew the initial strategy of school gardening looked at parents
as the source of labor but because of their limited support towards school
activities, the school is using the pupils partly because the garden is
actually the school’s agriculture demonstration garden. “...this is a demonstration farm for agriculture
lessons, and community farmers; it is a source of income for the school and
food for the teachers” the head teacher notes.
Worried about the future of their children, parents used Kinyamaseke Tukolerehaghuma
Women Association (KITWA) Neighbourhood Assembly (NA) sitting on 12th
May 2014 to discuss their grievances and appeal to the sub county leaders (the
LCIII Chairman Hon. Josephat Bwambale and the Sub County Chief Mr. Biminya
Francis) present to intervene and ban child labour at Kinyamaseke primary
school. “I am disappointed at the way the
school is exploiting our children, using them on the farm during the best hours
of the day when they would be concentrating in class. Some pupils have started
dodging school because they fear to participate in this mandatory activity-
this needs to stop” asserted Sadik, a parent during the neighbourhood
assembly. Responding to the parents’ concern, the LCIII Chairman and the Sub County
Chief condemned the act saying it is pushing children out of school instead of
encouraging them to study. They promised to work with the school to stop this
ugly practice with immediate effect. Speaking at the assembly, the head teacher
apologised to the parents for this practice and also promised to stop it
immediately. He however asked parents to support this school project and provide
labour in any way they can.
KALI has since been visiting the school to follow up on their commitment
to end child labour and to sensitize the teachers and school management to
devise other means of finding labour for the farming activities at the school. KALI
learnt that the school has stopped this practice; children are now attending
classes regularly from morning to evening without disruption.
Neighbourhood
assemblies are community based forums composed of community members and local
leaders who sit regularly to discuss pertinent issues affecting their community
and also suggest/identify solutions to them. KALI is using this neighbourhood
assembly strategy to implement its IDF funded project “promoting human rights and good governance in Kasese”.
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