ISINGIRO – The head United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Mbarara office, Mr Guindo Mahamadou, has appealed for more support towards the education of children in refugee camps.
Mr Mahamadou made the appeal on Friday during the celebrations to mark 10 years of Nakivale Primary School in Isingiro district. The school started in 2009 and now has a population of 2668, with over 90 percent being refugee children.
Mr Mahamadou said children everywhere need education in order to have a bright future. “Refugee children like any other child need to be raised properly having all the basic needs including education, but this at times is not possible because of limited resources. As UNHCR we are committed to addressing the plight of refugee children but because of funding gaps we need other partners to mobilize and pool resources for this cause,” Mr Mahamadou said.
He applauded partners already giving support to educate refugee children like Windle International- Uganda that is paying salaries for some of the teachers and tuition.
Mr Khalid Kintu, Nakivale refugee settlement camp deputy commandant said, whether children are in their country or not they need education in order to live meaningful lives.
He added, “We need to bridge the gap between refugees and host communities in terms of providing the basic needs to ensure peaceful co-existence and one of these is ensuring better and quality education for all. We cannot have peaceful communities if we don’t educate the young generation.”