Influence of awareness of children’s rights on students’ education in secondary schools in Kasese District

Abstract

Issues of child rights abuse in schools and the entire society always appear in press and media as a bush fire, thus the plight of children in schools is stressing and demoralising. Society seems to believe that students’ poor level of education in secondary schools in Kasese district is a consequence of denial of Children’s rights. It is possible that lack of awareness of Children’s rights may pause even more problems and escalate the poor level of education. This study sought to investigate the influence of awareness of children’s rights on students’ education in secondary schools in Kasese district. Following cross sectional survey research design, primary data was collected using questionnaire, structured interviews, and documentation from teachers, students, head teachers, key informants like DEO, Probation officer, parents, political and religious leaders. The total number of respondents was 262. The findings showed that although majority (60%) of students in secondary schools know children’s rights some other students (40%) did not know children’s rights and the responsibilities with which these rights come, teachers have a negative attitude towards implementation of children’s rights as reflected in their inefficiency at school by dodging lessons, failure to complete the syllabus and failure to adequately guide students in schools. The study findings confirmed that, students whose rights are granted and well facilitated by parents perform better than those who are denied their rights. This led to the conclusion that there is a significant relationship between awareness of children’s rights and students education in secondary schools. Recommendations were made to the Ministry of Education and Sports, NGOs dealing with children affairs and other stakeholders’ to intensify the awareness of children’s rights and responsibilities and to bridge the gap between the school, students and the parents in order to promote students’ education in secondary schools in Kasese district.