Buyubu Primary School and How Clean Water Helped Reduce Teen Pregnancy
Buyubu primary school is in the Iganga District of Uganda. The school did not have a well, so they had to rely on a community well at a local trading center.
The school’s headteacher hired a local laborer to fetch water from a well at a nearby trading center. This worked for a while but became unsustainable as the school soon ran out of money. “Hiring a casual laborer to fetch our water was necessary during final exams, but it became too large a burden on our budget to keep him on for the whole year”, admits David Kufabulala, the school head teacher.
The unexpected consequences of a lack of clean water at Buyubu Primary
“We know our students’ grades could be better and we attribute our challenges with water as one of the factors” David sighs.
“Some pupils skipped class by pretending they were going to fetch water,” He adds.
A more serious problem came with the girls. “When the older girls were sent for water, they sometimes stayed away too long.” remembers Bamwe Annet, the senior woman teacher.
Teenage boys would hang around the trading center during the day. These men did not work and would pass time gambling or playing games. When they saw teenage girls fetching water, they would talk to them and try to get them to stay. Some men would even offer to buy the girls food. But the longer the girls stayed, the more school they would miss.
Some would stay into the evening and soon girls were dropping out of school due to unplanned pregnancies.
A senior teacher named Bamwe Annet was the first to realize what was going on. “Going to the trading center for water exposed our girls to the village boys who lured them with the promise of food” recalls Annet.
Annet remembers a promising student named Justine, who dropped out of school after getting pregnant from one of the village boys. This was barely two years ago. “It was unfortunate because she never went back to school.”
Annet knew this story would keep repeating until the school was able to fix the water situation.
Poverty and illiteracy are the norm in this area, so many parents were ambivalent about their children’s lack of an education. Annet was different – she promised herself she would do everything she could to keep the girls in school. “I hold extra classes with the girls and try to counsel them”, says Annet.
Nashana Aisha, the head girl explains. “Some girls would end up playing games with the older boys when they went for water”, confirms Aisha. She tried to warn other students not to get involved with older boys, but it mainly fell on deaf ears.
Annet is happy that Drop in the Bucket came and drilled a well for Buybu Primary. She feels it will help her keep the girls safe. “You have given us water, but you have also helped us stop losing girls to early pregnancy”
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