Support to School Dropouts as a Result of COVID 19 Pandemic in Uganda

Currently Uganda is one of the countries with the longest school closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools closed down in March 2020, as the world came to the realization that the COVID-19 had spread. Schools then resumed in October 2020, ending a seven-month unprecedented holiday. It was then that the education system noticed an increased number of school dropouts over and above the already high school dropout rates of over 45% by 2019. Students in a survey taken, indicated that they had not returned to school for the following reasons: Early marriage and pregnancy for the girls, child labor for both the girls and boys, loss of interest in school for both boys and girls, lack of economic ability to pay for education anymore and transfers or migrations of families from the urban to the rural. A survey identified that students of all grades had dropped out and that a number of them were now faced with a dilemma of how to support their families and themselves economically. The survey further indicates that most youth are now into petty trade and manual labor for money for survival. This paper looks into the causes for school dropout as a result of the long school break, the different economic activities the students have taken up in order to survive and how they can be supported to manage the dynamics of the world of work without being exploited because of their ages and lack of a trade, experience or qualifications.