Can education promote peace in northern Uganda?

Conflict between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has displaced 1.6 million northern Ugandans. The LRA has abducted an estimated 28,000 children, destroyed schools and forced children to become ‘night commuters’ by moving every evening from their homes into towns to sleep. Peace will not be possible without greater focus on education.

A report from the Women’s Commission on Refugee Women and Children (WCRWC) examines the education systems in two conflict-affected districts, Gulu and Kitgum. It commends Uganda’s commitment to Universal Primary Education, but shows that although the young people of northern Uganda may be going to school, their education is restricted by the lack of classrooms, equipment and teachers.

Eighty percent of LRA fighters are kidnapped children. The LRA has killed many teachers and forced primary schools in isolated areas to close. Many villages are abandoned as inhabitants have chosen to live in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Each evening some 45,000 children walk into towns where they sleep together, often on the ground.

Insecurity, lack of school buildings, classrooms and desks, lack of latrines and water, a shortage of qualified teachers, illness and night commuting stop children from regularly attending school. In theory primary education is free but many IDP families are unable to pay charges for school materials, uniforms, and school construction.

Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes for children freed from fighting for the LRA do not get enough support. Teachers are not trained to help ex-fighters rejoin education and be accepted by fellow pupils and their communities.

The author shows that:

• There is a severe shortage of classrooms near camps for IDPs.
• Many young children, who could be in early childhood programmes or primary school, are left alone as their mothers go to look for wood or food.
• Girls start school later than boys and are under-represented after the lower primary grades.
• Teachers need training in how to work with girls and encourage them to remain in school.
• Technical and vocational training must reach more young people: apprenticeships and the provision of tools could assist graduating students to find work.

Interviews with young people in night commuter centres and internally displaced persons camps asked what would make their lives better. Many spoke of their need for learning materials and light at night to read or study. Young people stated that education was perhaps the most important way to prevent recruitment and re-recruitment into armed groups.

WCRWC calls on the Ugandan government and donors to recognise the special needs of northern Uganda and:

• provide food incentives to encourage girls to attend school
• assist primary school students to pay for uniforms and transport
• eliminate secondary school fees and build more secondary schools
• increase teachers’ salaries, give them more training and ensure that education ministry officials visit and support them
• increase learning opportunities for older youth and adults in camps
• develop, build and staff early childhood education centres
• work towards a negotiated, rather than a military, settlement to the conflict.

Source(s):
‘Learning in a War Zone: Education in Northern Uganda’, Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, by Lori Heninger, February 2005 Full document.

Funded by: American Jewish World Service

id21 Research Highlight: 3 March 2006

Further Information:
Lori Heninger
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
122 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10168-1289,
USA

Tel: +1 212 5513111
Fax: +1 212 5513180
Contact the contributor: lorih@womenscommission.org

Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, USA

Other related links:
'Civil war in Uganda: Education as a means of protection'

'Educating young people in emergencies: Time to end the neglect' insights education #4

'The role of peace education in refugee communities'

'UPE at all costs: Ugandan children flock to school, but quality suffers'

'Re-conceiving war-affected children: from passive victims to active survivors'

'Reintegrating girls from fighting forces in Africa'

'Life skills, peace education and AIDS prevention'