September 10, 2025
The roads of Wakiso are busy this week. The new academic term has begun. You can see the splashes of bright color against the dusty paths—purple uniforms, green sweaters, white socks—as children head back to class after the break.
It looks like a scene of normal life returning. But if you stand on that corner long enough and you know what to look for, you will notice the absences.
You will notice the teenage boys are walking to secondary school in groups. But where are their sisters? Where are the 14, 15, and 16-year-old girls who were in those classrooms last term?
This week isn’t just “back to school.” For Fecane Child Foundation, this is the front line of our most critical battle. We are fighting the statistical tidal wave that tries to pull teenage girls out of the classroom and into early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and domestic labor.
The Critical Tipping Point
In Uganda, primary school enrollment between boys and girls is relatively balanced. The crisis happens in adolescence.
When a family in the slums faces an economic shock—like the recent floods that devastated Zone C—and money becomes tight, hard choices are made. Often, the choice is to pay the school fees for the son and keep the daughter home to help with household chores or to find petty work.
Once a teenage girl misses one term, the statistical likelihood of her ever returning drops precipitously. She becomes invisible to the system. The “gap” she faces in her education becomes a chasm she cannot cross.
This September term is the tipping point. If we don’t get them into a seat now, we may lose them forever.
The “Period Tax” on Education
It is not just school fees that keep girls home. It is biology met with poverty.
We are in 2025, and it is a stain on our collective conscience that girls in Wakiso are still missing 20% of their school year simply because they have their periods.
When a family cannot afford food, they certainly cannot afford disposable sanitary pads. Girls are forced to use rags, dried leaves, or stay home in shame for four to five days every month. They fall behind in their lessons, become discouraged, and eventually drop out.
We cannot talk about “empowerment” if we are not addressing basic dignity.
”When a teenage girl drops out of school in Wakiso, she doesn’t just go home. She enters a cycle of vulnerability that is almost impossible to escape. Keeping her in that classroom seat today is prevention for a lifetime of crisis.”
Fecane’s Holistic Defense Shield
We are not just hoping these girls show up. We are executing a strategic intervention based on our five years of data.
Our back-to-school strategy for at-risk teenage girls has three pillars:
- The Economic Shield: For the 50 most vulnerable girls identified by our community network (our “shadow cabinet” of single mothers), Fecane is stepping in to cover partial or full school fees for this critical term.
- The Dignity Defense: We are distributing “Dignity Kits” containing reusable, high-quality sanitary pads, underwear, and soap, ensuring that biology is never a barrier to algebra.
- The Mentorship Circle: We know that fees aren’t enough. These girls need to see what is possible. We are deploying our female volunteer professionals—our teachers, nurses, and accountants—to run weekly mentorship circles, providing a safe space to discuss sexual health, peer pressure, and future ambitions.
A Safe Space to Become
While these interventions are crucial right now, they are still temporary patches.
We are currently running these mentorship circles in crowded corners of borrowed classrooms. The girls don’t have true privacy to discuss the sensitive issues affecting their lives.
This is why the “Safe Space Wing for Girls” in our proposed Vision 2030 Learning Center is non-negotiable. They need a permanent physical space within the community where they are valued, protected, and equipped to become the leaders we know they are.
The school gates are open right now, but the window of opportunity is closing fast for these teenagers. Every day they are out of school increases the risk that they will never return.
It costs just $35 to provide a “Dignity Kit” and partial school fee support to keep one at-risk teenage girl in class for this entire term. Secure her seat today. Sponsor a Girl’s Back-to-School Fund
