Secondary school girls in Kabarole district are keeping out of school due to lack of toilets.
In some of the schools in rural areas, there is only one toilet that is shared by both boys and girls. Some of the toilets do not even have doors.
Girls especially those who have reached puberty stage get embarrassed and decide to stay at home.
Violet Masika, a S.2 student at Mitandi Secondary School says that since the beginning of second term, she has attended classes for only a week. Masika says that she got embarrassed at the beginning of this term when four boys made fun of her, when they found her in the toilet.
She says that since then, the boys have been teasing her and this forced her to remain at home because she does not want to get embarrassed.
Masika says that she plans to go to another school, but she is worried that she may find the same problem there.
At Karambi Secondary School, girls are forced to use the nearby bush and the boys use the toilets. When Uganda Radio Network went to the school, there was only a long queue of boys at the toilet, while some girls were seen going to the toilets of St. Steven Church, which is almost a kilometer from the school.
Rashida Katusabe, a senior two student says that she feels uncomfortable when queuing up with the boys to use the toilets. She and her friends are forced to use toilets outside the school.
Katusabe also says that some boys deliberately go to the toilets when they see girls are there and the girls feel humiliated.
Michael Karamagi, the head teacher says the school is aware of the problem but has nothing to do. He says that over fifty girls have not turned up since the beginning of the second term.
Karamagi says that during the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) meetings, some parents complain that their daughters fear to attend classes because they have no access to privacy at the school.
He however says that female teachers often visit the girls at home to woo them back to school.
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William Balinda, the district education officer Kabarole, says that the 350 million shillings that the district receives annually under the school facilitation grant, is not enough to construct latrines. He says some of the money is used for the purchase of desks and construction of latrines in selected schools.
In 2010, the United Nations Children's Fund published a report indicating that 65% of schools in the Rwenzori region do not have adequate sanitation facilities.
