Karamoja Mps Moot For Free Compulsory Boarding Education For All Children In The Region

By Joshua Imalingat         

Children of school going age in Karamoja sub region will soon be required to compulsorily attend school if a motion mooted by the Karamoja Members of Parliament is adopted in the forthcoming regional parliamentary sitting in Gulu.

Parliament is set to conduct its first regional sitting in Gulu City on Wednesday 28^th of August before rolling out the sittings to three other traditional regions.

Members of Parliament from the region have for long advocated for compulsory boarding school education for all the Karimojong children saying this will cut the chain of recruitment to warriorhood.

The legislators also believe that forcing children to stay in school for about 15 years will stop the recuring insecurity as well as early marriages.

Now to drive their point home, the MPs from the region have drafted a motion to be tabled before parliament in Gulu urging government to formulate a policy that will see all children in Karamoja compulsorily attend school.

Remigio Achia, the Pain County MP who also doubles as the chairperson Karamoja parliamentary group has told Etoil A Karamoja that the motion if adopted will go a long way in solving not only the current insecurity but also improve other social aspects of the Karimojong people.

He explained that Karamoja is the only region in the country with the highest illiteracy levels standing at 66% arguing that education is the only tool for effective social change.

Achia further observes that implementing high quality education will outstrip the human and economic costs of dealing with insecurity in Karamoja. According to Achia, the government for instance spent over 180billion in only 2018 and 2019 for disarmament which is twice the amount needed to implement the compulsory boarding school policy.

According to the lates figures the literacy rate for the boy child in Karamoja has risen by 7% between 2016 and 2020, while that of the girl child has only risen by 1.3%. Out of the total primary school enrollment of both boys and girls, only 12% make it to secondary school.