Ministry vows to deal with domestic violence to tackle cases of school dropouts

During the National Children Summit held in December 2023, the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Dr. Valentine Uwamaria said that ending domestic violence was top on the agenda where the Ministry targets to work with different stakeholders to tackle the cases of children dropping out of school due to domestic violence.

“School drop-out has been found to be related to family conflicts. There are various plans taken by the ministry to put an end to it; there are two educational programs designed for parenting and one for relationships between spouses," said Dr. Valentine Uwamariya.

Among the strategies, the Minister said include two dialogues targeting parents specifically in line with relationships between spouses, parenting and other family related programs that would improve family lifestyle and harmonious living.

Ms. Claudine Mutoni, a child representative in Mutuntu sector in Karongi district, noted that within her sector, there are parents addicted to abuse of alcohol who neglect their parental responsibility and children find themselves out of school.

According to Mutoni, most of the students in her sector quit school due to the fights and quarrels that existed in their homes and the carelessness of the parents and requested urgent attention to the problem.

Some of the people interviewed indicated the need for massive sensitization of parents on parental care skills and institute heavy punitive measures to avert the situation.