| dc.description.abstract | This is a report on the UNESCO funded “Participation Programme” project titled “Support to the Integration of
Human Rights Education into Uganda’s Education System” implemented by the Uganda National Commission
for UNESCO. This project was undertaken in pursuit of Uganda’s commitment towards the implementation
of the 1st Phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education (WPHRE), proclaimed by UN member
states in 2004.
The report represents the findings of the study which was conducted to establish the status of human rights
and life skills education in Uganda by looking at existing education policies and their implementation, learning
environments, teaching and learning of human rights as well as education and professional development of
teachers and other educational personnel.
A National Stakeholders Workshop was held to bring relevant players together to discuss the presented
findings and recommendations of the study and to identify priority areas which informed the basis of a Draft
National Implementation Strategy for HRE in Uganda. The participants also identified possible members
for a National Steering Committee who will be tasked with overseeing and implementing the National
Implementation Strategy and ensuring cooperation and coordination between relevant stakeholders.
The findings show that there is no comprehensive policy on human rights education in Uganda and the
Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) has not yet fully incorporated human rights education into the
school curriculum. Different organizations are involved in promoting some aspects of human rights education
in schools, institutions and also in the informal education sector. However, these eff orts are not well coordinated. Human rights abuses such as corporal punishment, defilement, child labor, child trafficking
to mention still occur in the school setting and at homes, besides some tribes and communities are still
practicing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). These are attributed to low levels of human rights awareness.
There are a few schools that have benefited from the human rights training specifically on raising awareness
on the rights of children. However, many institutions and schools need to be educated on human rights
education. There are inadequate learning materials on human rights in schools. Human rights is incorporated
into peace clubs, patriotism clubs and crime prevention clubs in schools but in most schools visited there
were no direct human rights club.
Several actors tried to influence the inclusion of HRE into the curriculum but faced challenges and several
organizations that are implementing HRE in schools have complained of resource constraints hence a small
coverage in activities on HRE. The communities were not being educated about human rights and so while
human rights are promoted at school, they are still being abused at home. | en_US |
