Students Drop Classes For Gold

In Bugiri district children are trading time in the classroom for time in mines with the allure of quick money. It is estimated that over a thousand children are employed in gold mines in the region with majority being dropouts. Children are being enticed by the allure of quick income and drop out of school to pursue that work.
The children mine in dangerous conditions with no safety gear and in harsh weather for just a few milligrams of gold. Philo Aryatwijuka, the Programs Officer of Ecological Christian Organisation (ECO),  claims the situation is caused by a general lack of schools in the area with the closest being kilometers away from the residents and the available ones in poor conditions.  She urges  the government to set up more schools in the area at reasonable distances from the residents.
Currently over a hundred dropouts are being rehabilitated back into vocational schools so as to gain practical skills that would help them gain employment in much safer conditions.