The dangerous path to school and empowerment: a case study investigating the difficulties of empowerment in education for girls in West Kalungu County District, Uganda

Abstract: Getting girls to go to and ​stay​ in school is a worldwide issue - predominantly in the global south where it is a particular problem in Sub-saharan Africa where poverty is particularly high. This issue is also one of gender, as the majority of children who do not have access/go to school are female. This paper investigates this problem in central western Uganda, in the west county of the Kalungu district where girls face a plethora of problems in attending school. Through a qualitative case study comprising of interviews with local teachers and local district officials, the data gathered demonstrated the multitude of barriers that children, and girls in particular, face. The semi-structured interviews are thematically analysed through the empowerment theory on the premise that the access to resource and agency lead to achievement and therein empowerment. The lack of resources are both materialistic in terms of scholastic materials, sanitary pads, and institutional with regards to health and rights education and facilities. With relation to agency, there exist culturally bound conceptual barriers such as child marriage, menstruation stigma and the preferences to boys; and societal barriers, such as the distance to school and sexual violence and exploitation. What could be concluded from this, is the need for holistic development and education that teaches both children and parents about rights and health (in particular, menstrual health in girls).