By Yusuf Obbo
The Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Iganga, Eric Ssewandigi, has launched a campaign to support vulnerable families with scholastic materials to help children from low-income households remain in primary school.
The campaign was launched on Tuesday at Kawete Primary School, where more than 60 children received support.
According to Ssewandigi, the initiative follows a government message calling on government schools to stop imposing high charges on learners that many families cannot afford.
The RDC also directed police to enforce laws requiring parents to take their children to school during the current promotional term, warning that parents who deliberately fail to send their children to school could face arrest.
Ssewandigi appealed to well-wishers and other stakeholders to join the campaign and support vulnerable school-going children in government schools.
The initiative was also supported by Grace Nambuya, Manager of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) Iganga office, who donated sanitary pads to schoolgirls, supported the school with teachers’ meals and paid porridge fees for 10 children.
Parents welcomed the initiative, saying the support would ease the financial burden on families struggling to keep their children in school.
Nakaima Jamila, a mother of four children at Kawete Primary School, said many male parents had abandoned their responsibilities, leaving mothers—many of whom have no reliable source of income—to shoulder the burden of educating their children.
She said the situation was negatively affecting the future of many children.
“I wish government can support us first wives by arresting our husbands for neglecting their responsibilities. They only focus on marrying new wives, produce and forget, and we mothers carry the burden,” Nakaima said.
The RDC said the campaign will require collective support from government, parents, community leaders and well-wishers to ensure that vulnerable children are not forced out of school because of poverty.
