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    PHOTOS: Teen dreams and downers after the world's longest COVID school closure

    Schools in Uganda were shut nearly 2 years due to the pandemic. Now they're open again, although millions of kids won't go back. We speak to 6 teens about their plans and hopes.
    by Halima Athumani Feb 19, 2022 6 minutes
    Kusemererwa Jonathan Henry, Joel Joseph (left and middle) and a friend pose for a photo on their way home from school. During the lockdown, they missed spending time in school together and would walk to visit each other.

    KAMPALA, Uganda — On January 10, Uganda reopened schools after the longest closure in the world due to the coronavirus pandemic. For most students, it was their first time back in the classroom in nearly two years.

    When the buildings first shuttered, the Ministry of Education broadcast lessons on TV and radio stations, and some schools handed out printed materials. But this did not last due to lack of funding. So the estimated 15 million children affected by this closure put their studies on hold.

    Uganda's National Planning Authority in August 2021 projected that 4.5 million of them will likely not return to school. There are several reasons for the dropouts. The teen pregnancy rate rose significantly. According to a report released by the U.N. in 2021, close to 645,000 teenage pregnancies were registered in Uganda between March 2020 to September 2021.

    And many poor children in urban and rural areas were forced to start working to help support their, the UNICEF Uganda representative. "It's not easy for a family that has relied for almost two years on child labor to give up that income and say to the child, 'Now it is time to go back to school.'"

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