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UGANDA - '60% Kumi Girls Marry Early'
New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
July 19, 2006
By Mark Owor
Kampala, Uganda
SIXTY percent of girls in Uganda's Kumi District drop out of school between the ages of 12 and 15 years due to cultural norms.
District health educator Augustine Otella said most girls were married off at tender ages due to the need to get dowry to look after the family.
Speaking at the function organised by the Straight Talk Foundation team of Voluntary Counselling and Testing officials in Ongino sub-county on Sunday, Otella said some people believe that when a girl's breasts start showing, it signifies readiness for sex.
"Some mothers in the district are below 18 years, have more than two children and are pregnant," he said.
He said poverty made it hard to win defilement cases in the district because most parents want to get something out of their children.
Otella said with help from the Red Barnets, an NGO, the probation department had counselled parents and teachers on sex education.
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