Upper Madi-Okollo MP Martin Drito has blamed poverty for poor academic performance in Madi-Okollo District and the wider West Nile sub-region, saying many learners attend school hungry and lack the basic materials needed to succeed.
Drito told Bbeg Media at Parliament that financial hardship among families has made it difficult for parents to supplement government funding to schools, leaving learners struggling to access essential scholastic materials and adequate support at home.
His remarks come as candidates prepare to sit the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) examinations.
The legislator wished the candidates success, saying he had organised activities to help them prepare for their final examinations, including bringing in examiners from the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), instructors from Kampala and organising educational seminars.
“I would like to wish all these candidates success in their final exams,” Drito said.
He expressed concern that poverty was undermining efforts to improve education in his constituency, arguing that many parents could not afford to provide the additional support their children needed to perform well in school.
According to Drito, some pupils and students attend classes on empty stomachs, while others lack basic learning materials such as books and pens.
He also pointed to the financial difficulties facing teachers, saying some were heavily indebted and struggling to manage their personal finances because of loans.
Drito said these challenges were affecting the learning environment and making it harder for schools to deliver good results, despite government efforts to improve access to education.
He added that some schools continued to experience shortages of teachers, although the government had recently made efforts to address staffing gaps.
The MP said the situation was particularly worrying in Madi-Okollo, which he described as having recorded the country’s poorest PLE performance. The claim could not be independently verified from the information available.
He said the poor results were disappointing because the government had introduced programmes such as Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) to expand access to schooling.
However, Drito argued that access to education alone was not enough to guarantee good performance if learners lacked food, learning materials and support from their families.
He called on parents to take greater responsibility for their children’s education instead of leaving the burden entirely to the government.
“We want to tell you that you are the future of this country, people who will take over after us. Therefore, do the right thing to excel and make our constituency and region shine,” Drito said.
He also warned that the pursuit of quick money, drug abuse and excessive time spent on entertainment were distracting some young people from their studies.
Drito urged students to remain disciplined and prioritise their education, saying success required commitment and responsible choices both inside and outside the classroom.
The legislator also raised concerns about rising fuel prices, saying the increases were affecting even MPs, who often have to travel long distances to their constituencies to attend to their constituents’ needs.
He said the rising cost of fuel was making it more expensive to carry out his duties and was also affecting his business interests.
Drito attributed the pressure on businesses to several economic challenges, including exchange-rate fluctuations, rising prices of essential goods and alleged market practices such as hoarding.
