The Guardian reported this month that almost 70% of children are likely to drop out of Ugandan schools, with the blame firmly on the shoulders of hidden costs that prove too high for poorer parents. Our figures shine rather brightly against that… just 4.5% of our children have left the Child of Hope school.
The findings come from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), which estimated that 68% of children in Uganda who enrol in primary school are likely to drop out before finishing the prescribed seven years.
Child of Hope has recognised the problem from day 1 and provides free education to the poorest families in the Namatala slum… because their kids have absolutely no hope of going to school.
The result has been stunning… only 18 children have dropped out in the seven years since we first started our school… that’s just 4.5%. A lot better than the national 68%. So thank you for your amazing support – it is clearly impacting a lot of children!
Out of those 18 children, two have actually gone missing from home… run away, kidnapped or worse. Ninemoved away with their families and (we believe) are now in other schools. Seven children left because their families were moving back to their village homes for economic reasons and couldn’t be persuaded to stay here, so they are unlikely to now be attending a school.
If you’d like to read more, please click here.
And if you'd like to sponsor a child at our school, please click here.
