The Deputy Speaker of Parliament has asked the government to improvise skilling centers at Parish level to ensure that teenage girls, mothers and children are equipped with life skills.
Hon Anita Among said during plenary on Wednesday that skilling centers should be implemented under the new parish model. She adds that they should be placed in the areas where these children come from to avoid the challenge of children trekking long distances.
“In this parish model, we must localise the skilling areas; they should be in the areas where these children come from. If it is long distance, they will get challenges from men,” Among said.
Her call followed a motion moved by the Tororo District Woman MP, Hon Sarah Opendi asking the government to address the plight of the girl child. She said teenage girls are suffering and need urgent attention from the government.
Opendi said that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, about 15 million learners have been locked out of education for failure to access radios, Television and the internet which has kept children redundant and exposed girls to risky behavior .
“The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the pre-existing challenges facing the girl child; exacerbating the exposure of girls to trafficking both internally and international, teenage pregnancies, child marriages, poor menstrual hygiene on top of other forms of gender-based violence,” Opendi said’
She further explained that a report by FAWE reveals that there was an increase in teenage pregnancies among girls aged 10-14 years and 22 per cent of girls forced into transactional sex due to poverty.
Her motion was seconded by the Rakai District Woman MP, Hon Juliet Kinyamatama and Mbarara City Woman MP Hon Rita Akankwasa. The Mps argued that child mothers usually opt to drop out of school due to stigma and tipped government to consider incentives that would inspire them to resume school.
“If we want these girls to go back to school without stigma, we need to give them incentives such food for their children. There should be a special package for teenage mothers before re-opening of schools,” Kinyamatama said.
“You know we have stigma and the first thing that happens to a girl child when she gets pregnancy it is to move away from home. They are not accepted, are desperate and opt for unsafe abortions that result into deaths,” Atukwasa said.
