Although the government introduced free Education in Primary and Secondary Schools to ensure all children attend school, several are still being forced to marry leaving them semi-illiterate and unable to compete for better jobs in the future.
The main Census findings have shown that the Buganda region has
the highest cases of child marriages across the country raising concerns among
local leaders.
The Children (Amendment) Act 2016
emphasizes the right of every child to education and places
responsibilities on parents and the
state to ensure children attend school and receive proper care and
guidance.
Although the government introduced free Education in
Primary and Secondary Schools to ensure all children attend school, several are
still being forced to marry leaving them semi-illiterate and unable to
compete for better jobs in the future.
The National Housing and Population main census report
released in December 2024 has revealed that 533,379 children between 10 and 17 years were in marriages or cohabiting.
The report indicates that the Buganda sub-region had
the highest cases after registering 100,190 children who were married followed
by the Busoga region with 58,672 child marriages, West Nile had 47,529 child marriages and
Ankole had 35,566 child marriages.
Madi sub-region had the least with 5,770
child marriages, Sebei had 6137 child marriages and Kampala city had 11,797 child marriages.
The Children’s Act as
amended in 2016 defines child marriage as any union whether formal or informal
involving any person below the age of 18 years to live as husband and wife.
The report didn’t specify districts in the Buganda region where child marriages
are most prevalent but Luwero district has featured in other
health reports with high cases.
Local leaders in Luwero district have since blamed the
rampant cases on poverty, school dropout and negligence of parents as leading
causes of child marriages.
Richard Ssimbwa, the LCIII Chairperson of Luwero Sub-county, said that the findings were an indictment on parents, especially fathers, those who have neglected their responsibilities, forcing children into marriages to get basic facilities.
Ssimbwa explained that some parents have also deliberately
forced their children to get married off to get a dowry because they are
poor.
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Daniel Kyaterekera, the Luwero District Secretary of Education, explained that children end up in marriages after they drop out of school due to the long distances to school, lack of scholastic materials, and lack of lunch.
Kyaterekera says that as a result the district council passed
a resolution that each parent must pay lunch fees and the headteachers should submit
a list of those who fail to the district for further action.
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The Luwero District Probation Office estimates that three
out of ten girls who drop out of school after sitting Primary seven end up in marriages.
As a result, the Luwero District Child Wellbeing Committee has directed
the District Education Department to audit the school dropouts and report back
to enable it to draw strategies to fight the causes.
Dr Innocent Nkonwa the Luwero District Health Officer says
that apart from health complications arising from early teenage
pregnancies after marriages, the problem constrains the low health budgets.
Nkonwa advised that major interventions should be done to
attract children to stay in schools because this helps girls not to be lured easily into
marriages and teenage pregnancies.
He also asked the local governments to allocate resources
within the budgets for sensitization of youths to shun
early marriages, and teenage pregnancies and stay in school.
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Violent Busingye the Officer in
Charge of Luwero Child and Family Protection Unit (CFPU) said child marriage is illegal but like some cases of defilement, people don’t report the matter to
Police to prosecute the suspects.
According to Luwero district health report, at least 4,465
teenagers got pregnant within the financial year 2023/24. All these cases were
detected when teenagers went to seek antenatal care services within health
centres.