Grapevine

How high cost of education is leaving refugees illiterate

Thousands of families in northern Uganda’s Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement camp in Bweyale are struggling to access education due to high costs.

They say government-aided primary schools are charging Shs25,000 and Shs10,000 for uniforms and Parents Teachers Association (PTA) respectively.

There are about seven government-aided primary schools in the camp, which is home to more than 100,000 refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, DR Congo, Burundi, and South Sudan.

“Last term, I paid Shs9,000 for the exams of my two sisters’ daughters and additional Shs10,000 for report cards, but the children who are all in Primary One were not given the report cards,” says Ms Mona Omer Mohammed, the camp secretary for education.

Her neighbor, Mr Mohammed Abubakar’s seven children were on September 16 sent back home after they reported to a nearby primary school without uniforms.