Constraints to educational opportunities of orphans: a community-based study from northern Uganda
Abstract
The objective of this article is to assess constraints on educational opportunities of orphans cared for within the extended family system in Lira district, northern Uganda. The data were collected through: review of school census records; ethnographic fieldwork; in-depth interviews with 21 community leaders, 45 heads of households caring for orphans and 35 orphans. Focus group discussions were held with men and women caring for orphans, community leaders and orphans. A household survey was conducted in 402 households caring for orphans. We found that very poor widows living on less than half a dollar per day head 48% of the households caring for orphans. The elderly heads of households were 3 times more likely to have all the children in their household in schools than the younger ones. Furthermore, the widowed and single heads of households were more likely to have all orphans in school than the married, and households that received external support offered better educational opportunities. Poverty, as indicated by lack of food while at school and heavy involvement of orphans in domestic labour, were identified as major constraints on orphans’ schooling. There is an urgent need to support orphans’ education in northern Uganda beyond the current Universal Primary Education efforts. The most vulnerable households need to be targeted, and the communities need to be sensitized to child labour, school meals and sex abuse.
Categories: Protection Education Care Economy
Other articles
Orphans’ Land Rights in Post-War Rwanda: The Problem of Guardianship
In 1994, the Rwandan civil war and genocide produced thousands of orphans. Alongside the war, the growing HIV/AIDS crisis…
Read moreSocial and Pedagogical Problems of the Upbringing of Orphans in Russia
The problems of orphans in Russia are explored through a discussion of the reform of the state educational system for this…
Read moreLong-Term Experiencing of Parental Death During Childhood
This qualitative study examined the long-term experience of childhood parental death by exploring how adults (a) retrospectively…
Read moreInstitutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation of children 1: a systematic and integrative review of evidence regarding effects on development
Millions of children worldwide are brought up in institutional care settings rather than in families. These institutions…
Read more