By KT Reporter
60 bright but less privileged children are set to benefit from the maiden implementation of a pilot scholarship fund established by leaders within the Acholi Sub-region in next year’s academic calendar.
The scholarship fund dubbed Dero Kwan (education granary) is one of the initiatives started under Rocco Paco, a revival movement that seeks to revamp the collapsed education sector in the Acholi sub-region.
The initiative being championed by Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo and former Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party President Olara Otunnu was launched in December 2023 during a Pan-Acholi convocation at Sir Samuel Baker School in Gulu City.
Under the Dero Kwan initiative, the leaders have set an ambitious target to raise 2.5 billion shillings annually through the voluntary contribution of 1,000 shillings from each member of a household towards the scholarship fund.
Filda Ojok Lanyero, a member of the select committee of the Dero Kwan initiative said 60 children will be selected from the eight districts in the sub-region for the pilot sponsorship programme in 2025.
According to Lanyero, seven students will be selected from each district, while two others will be chosen from Gulu City and two from Kitgum Municipality to be sponsored in senior one up to senior four.
She notes that consideration is also being made for others in senior five and six if the funds are available with the ultimate goal of pushing the students up to the University.
“What we have decided is that this coming year, 2025, we should not just sit and do nothing. Because if you don’t do anything, this interest that you have generated in people may disappear. We want to do something, not only to keep interest alive but also to teach us if we can experiment with this, we can learn a lot, what have we done right, what have we not done right,” said Lanyero.
Lanyero notes that the select committee has weighed many considerations on who can benefit from the scholarship scheme which includes among others good academic grades, discipline of the child, talent and inability of the parent to pay tuition.
“We think that the child we are going to select should be good enough academically to manage Senior 1, in a good school and that child, according to what we are thinking, should at least score Grade 1 or Grade 2. We know that they are weak, and we are aiming mainly at the government-sponsored schools in the villages, so they are not going to perform very well. But if a child can score well in Grade 1, and Grade 2, then we are going to consider that,” she said.
All the selected students according to Lanyero will be sponsored in good schools within the Acholi Sub-region as a way of strengthening the already existing schools in the sub-region.
Dr Olara Otunnu, the Co-Chair of the Rocco Paco Initiative noted that the drive seeks to restore the fundamental societal collapse the Acholi Sub-region is experiencing which is driven by the cumulative episodes of past insurgencies.
Otunnu said the education sector in the Acholi Sub-region was one of the best and produced brilliant names who served in various capacities within and outside the country unlike currently.
“The purpose of Dero Kwan is that there are still Professor Odonga’s who are in the villages, but they have no opportunity. So we want to open the door to a few of them and allow them to follow the footsteps of our forebears who paved the way for us,” said Otunnu.
Otunnu however called on the sons and daughters of Acholi to join hands in the noble cause and support the scholarship fund to achieve its objective.
“We who are most affected by this must in the first instance take the urgency to do so something about this situation and then we can go to others and say please help us,” he said.
Otunnu also yesterday announced the second edition of the Gure Me Pongdwongo (Pan-Acholi convocation at Pongdwongo) which is slated for December 27th to 29th at Restore Leadership High School. The convocation will bring in the Acholi people from within and the diaspora to deliberate on issues affecting the sub-region and how they can be addressed.
So far close to a billion shillings has been raised for the scholarship fund since its inception last year according to Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
