With an awfully low class attendance in Karamoja region, the army has intervened to force children back to the classrooms.
Primary-school attendance in Karamoja is very low with 30 percent in Moroto and Kotido, and 40 percent in Nakapiripirit compared to 83 percent nationwide.
The third Division Army Commander, Col Patrick Kankiriho, says the army has launched a back to school program, through which all children below the age of 12-will be rounded up from communal grazing grounds and taken to primary schools in the area.
Kankiriho says several children have been rounded up in Kaabong district and forced to attend classes.
But the LC3 Chairperson for Nabilatuk Sub County in Nakapiripirit district, Obadia Lomongin says the program is bound to fail because Karimojongs prefer their children to graze cattle than going to school.
// Cue in: iYou can not#i
Cue out i#three or fivei. //
Statistics show that two percent of children in Kotido, make it to secondary school, compared with a national average of 21 percent.
Most Children tend to start school late and drop out early. Most Girls stay at home learning house keeping chores, while the boys learn to raid cattle.
