Decades of experience and research have taught us that when children are out of school for prolonged periods of time, their exposure to physical, emotional and sexual violence increases. Their mental health deteriorates. They are more vulnerable to child labour, teenage pregnancy, child marriage and less likely to break out of the cycle of poverty.
In our work throughout Uganda, we see all of this happening right now. In addition to education, schools provide a vital protective role to learners. Since they closed, the number of calls made to the 116 National Child Helpline has increased by around 70%. We are seeing rising numbers of out-of- school children doing dangerous work in quarries, markets and mines; and girls increasingly forced to sell sex for cash, food or even sanitary materials. Adolescents are not getting information about reproductive health, and pregnancy and child marriage is increasing. We are seeing a deterioration in the mental health of children who are out of school, unable to socialise with their friends and uncertain when this will change; and increased domestic violence by parents who are stressed by growing poverty and children confined to home.
