The first term of 2017 has been a struggle for many of our children and their families.  Due to a long dry spell and low rainfall, crops in the area have not done well, and thus families have not harvested as much  as usual for eating and for selling.  The price of basic food items has increased significantly, for example maize flour (used to make “posho”, the cheapest carbohydrate/staple food item) has doubled in price.  Many families are having to cut back on their food intake, some eating only one daily meal or one main meal for supper and porridge for breakfast.

In addition UNEB (the Uganda National Examinations Board) gave late notice of a higher than anticipated increase in the registration fees for the national exams sat by Primary Seven pupils and Senior Four students – 40% and 30% increases respectively.  This brought the Senior Four UCE (O Level) registration fee to more than double the fees we charge for a whole term at secondary, and the primary seven registration fee to exactly 4 times the modest contribution parents make towards JJ’s primary school running costs.

Not surprisingly many parents have failed to cover these registration fees and we will need to look for donations to ensure that none of our eligible pupils nor students fail to sit the national exams at the end of the year.

10 of our 59 Senior 4 students have managed to pay the registration fee in full, another 23 students have paid the fee initially requested, which was based on last year’s registration fee.   14 of our 41 Primary Seven pupils have managed to pay the registration fee for their Primary Leaving Exams, and an additional 19 pupils have covered the expected fee, based on last year costs.

Our secondary school fees income has been lower than anticipated this term with only 85% of the total fees due having been paid, compared to 96% in term 1 2016.  In total 134 (40%) of the secondary students have a debt of school fees compared to 62 students (19%) in term 1 last year.  As a result we will also need to cover some of the basic running costs at secondary from donations.

Can you help us to ensure that no child drops out of education nor fails to sit national exams at the end of year?

If you would like to donate please go to our Just Giving page operated by Hand in Hand (the UK charity with whom we partner), or visit Hand in Hand’s website and make a donation for JJ Community Transformation (U).