Language barrier hinders education access for refugees
The State Minister for Education, Dr Joyce Moriku, addresses pupils at Rhino Settlement Camp in Madi-Okollo District on September 20, 2022. PHOTO/FELIX WAROM OKELLO.
What you need to know:
- According to Ms Peluth Bampa Natumanya, the deputy director for programme operations at Save the Children, 60 percent of refugees in both settlement and transit centres are children.
Language barrier and lack of teaching materials are affecting the education of refugee children living in settlement camps in Uganda, stakeholders have said.
According to Ms Peluth Bampa Natumanya, the deputy director for programme operations at Save the Children, 60 percent of refugees in both settlement and transit centres are children.
However, she said they don’t have teachers who can speak their mother tongues so as to help them adjust to Uganda’s education system.
“This challenge affects the refugee children in getting their desired primary school education. It’s our appeal to the government and its partners to consider hiring experts and getting enough teaching materials if the refugee children are to benefit from the designed education programmes in the settlement camps,” he added.
Ms Natumanya also revealed that there is a need for the expansion of the Nyakabande Refugee Transit Centre so that they can have enough space to timely offer services on nutrition and psychological relief to refugee children.
As of the January 31 nutrition screening at Nyakabande Transit Centre in Kisoro District, the combined acute malnutrition rate stood at 8.3 percent, which is an increase from 6.6 percent two weeks earlier. Last Thursday, a team of eight European Union ambassadors visited Nyakabande refugee transit camp to get an overview of the refugee emergency response since March 2022 when fighting erupted between the M23 rebels and the Congolese government forces, forcing about 720,000 Congolese nationals to cross into Uganda.
The European Union Ambassador, Mr Jan Sadek, who led the delegation, applauded the government for its open policy on refugees and pledged to continue supporting refugee activities in the country.
EU view
The European Union ambassador, Mr Jan Sadek, who led the delegation to Kisoro District last Thursday [to assess refugee programmes], applauded the government for its open policy on refugees and pledged to continue supporting refugee activities.
