The First Lady Janet Museveni who also doubles as the Education and Sports Minister has urged girls to value education saying it is the only way issues including teenage pregnancies, marriages and gender based violence will be curbed.
Janet Museveni made the remarks at the launch of the Education Plus Initiative at Mengo Senior School earlier this month. She said through this initiative, government will ensure more pupils are granted access to quality education.
“As a mother, a Minister of Education and Sports, and the UN Champion for Adolescent Girls in Uganda, it was my pleasure to launch the Education Plus Initiative at Mengo Senior School.”
“Through this initiative, the Ministry of Education and Sports and other relevant stakeholders will accelerate actions and investments for adolescent girls and young women, with boys as partners, in causing positive change,” Museveni said.
She added that the initiative will also contribute to the prevention of HIV, teenage pregnancies, early child marriages, and gender-based violence.
“This will be possible by increasing access to quality secondary school education as an entry point and a stepping stone to a valuable future,” she added.
Meanwhile, the initiative is being driven by the Ministry of Health in partnership with United Nations co-lead agencies.
According to the Ministry, in the first five years, the initiative will target adolescent girls and young women in regions and districts that registered the highest number of teenage pregnancies in 2021 including Lango, Tororo, West Nile, North Central, and Bunyoro.