By Derrick Kyatuka and Winfred Ongom

Four children from Kyangwali settlement on May 25^th presented a joint statement to the Ministry of Education and Sports in Uganda.

In the statement, the children expressed to the Director of Basic Education, Ismael Mulindwa, how much they think education is important and presented a call to action that would improve the quality of education in Uganda's refugee and host communities.

In his presentation, Baraka, 12, a Congolese refugee living in Uganda, said education has helped improve his literacy skills but also shielded many children against different forms of violence.

“In the future, I would like to be the speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly because my home country doesn’t have peace.  I would want the East African Community to come together and foster peace in my home country,” Baraka said.

Godfrey, 15, envisions himself as an engineer in the oil and gas sector in the future.

“Education is important to all children. It has broadened my knowledge and enabled me to support my parents and teach them how to use mobile phones. I want to study hard and become an engineer to motivate other children to stay in school,” he said.

Education has helped Naomi, 15, to resist the temptation of teenage pregnancy that most of her peers have unfortunately suffered from.

“Children need to access quality education to improve their lives and become important people in the future. I want to become a lawyer in the future and fight for a just society for all children,” she said.    

The children are part of the direct recipients of the second phase of the Education Response Plan (EPR 11) for refugees and host communities in Uganda. The plan was developed to reach an average of 674,895 beneficiaries per year from the financial year 2022-2023 to 2024-2025 for $450m.

The plan aims to address the aspects of access to quality education in pre-primary, primary, secondary, technical vocational education training, Accelerated Education Program and system strengthening.

Director of Basic Education, Ismael Mulindwa, encouraged the children to keep in school and stay focused if they are to live admirable lives in the future.

“Stay in and study. The time will come when you have money to enjoy anything you’ve always wished for. I want to meet you in the future when you are important people,” he said.