Chalaire Omagor, the District Education Officer in Kalaki when contacted said that four boys missed the examination out of 1,965 registered candidates in the district. He notes while one candidate was bedridden and unable to write the examinations, three others were too busy engaged in some income generating activities in Soroti City.
Local authorities in Kalaki district this week combed villages in
Anyara Sub County looking for primary seven candidates who were married
off before writing their Primary Leaving Examination- PLE.
Through their effort, two girls returned to write their
examinations that ended on Wednesday. They were candidates of Ongoromo and
Anyara Township primary schools.
Michael Okello Oita, the sub county chairperson of Anyara
says that they resorted to combing villages after receiving information that
the girls had been married off by their parents.
He explains that after consulting parents of the affected
pupils, they were instead given diversionary responses that compelled the team
to start investigations. According to Okello, the team had concluded with the
investigations and was preparing to arrest both parents and the married
children when the girls suddenly appeared for examinations on Tuesday morning.
// cue in “When we got…
Cue out…in- laws now”//
Chalaire Omagor, the District Education Officer in Kalaki
when contacted said that four boys missed the examination out of 1,965
registered candidates in the district. He notes while one candidate was
bedridden and unable to write the examinations, three others are said to be too busy engaged in some income generating activities in Soroti City.
According to Omagor, efforts to have the children return to
school for examination were futile when their parents declined to cooperate
with education officials.
// cue in “We always…
Cue out…in the education”//
Kalaki district had three breastfeeding and four expectant
candidates sitting for PLE.
According to the authorities in Kalaki, investigations into
the alleged married pupils are continuing by the police and once the files
are completed, both the parents and in- laws will be arrested and prosecuted
for procuring defilement.
Marriage age in Uganda is 21 years without parental consent and 18 years with parents consenting, which
most pupils at primary seven have not attained.
