Teenage pregnancy pushes Luuka girls out of school as Bonga offers a second chance

What the report says

In Luuka District, eastern Uganda, teenage pregnancy, poverty and school dropout are continuing to undermine girls’ education, according to Nile Post. The article centers on 16-year-old Shadia Balyazaki, a Primary Five pupil at Namakakale Primary School who returned to class after leaving school last year when she became pregnant. Because she now has a baby and lives with a disability, her grandmother is caring for the child so Shadia can continue studying.

The story says local educators and district leaders view the problem as part of a wider pattern affecting adolescents in Luuka. Strømme Foundation Uganda’s education adviser, Ruth Akol, linked the issue to poverty, limited access to reproductive health information, social norms and pressures associated with the district’s sugarcane economy. School officials also pointed to domestic violence, household poverty and weak parental supervision as factors that can push girls out of school and increase vulnerability to early pregnancy.

To respond, Strømme Foundation Uganda, working with Mission Alliance and Kulika Uganda, is implementing the Luuka Community Strengthening Project. A key part of that work is the Bonga adolescent empowerment programme, which supports young people aged 13 to 19 with life skills, rights awareness and vocational training. The initiative also helps some younger mothers return to school and provides childcare support.

The article frames these interventions as a second chance for girls like Shadia, while also warning that the same economic and social pressures are affecting boys who leave school for sugarcane work. Beyond Luuka, the report reflects a broader concern in Uganda about keeping adolescents in education and reducing teenage pregnancy-related dropout.