The State Minister for Education Ms Jessica Alupo has warned men against sexually abusing the education rights of school girls saying that those who are caught luring girls into sexual activities will not only be cursed but jailed.

Speaking at the 75 years Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School last Friday in Gulu district, Ms Alupo urged the police and parents to ensure that those caught in the vice are dealt with harshly under the law.

“All parents and clergies should join hands against gender base violence against girls, make sure nobody steals our girls from school,” Alupo said; “do not settle defilement out of court, prosecute them,” she added.

The maximum sentence for defilement is a death penalty on conviction, but Alopo said that the girls might easily be infected by STDs by the offender and will be left to cope with the hardships and the end results.

Alupo said early marriages; post marriages and early pregnancies pose serious risks to girl child education: “I urge you to remain AIDS free by choosing to abstain as the best solution.”

Ms Alupo said that “although the country can smile for successfully achieving results in the fight against HIVAIDS, which has reduced from 17 Percent in the 1980s to 3.5 percent to date, there is no need to celebrate.”

Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School celebrated its 75 years Diamond Jubilee at its main campus in Gulu last Friday.

The Theme was “75 years of sustainable Girl child education for the community: Building a firm foundation and development for Uganda.”

Ms Alupo urged students to study in order to gain employment saying that her government is putting in place education focusing on skill in all training institutions so that on completion students can go out and start their own jobs.

Alupo said that she was proud that a number of schools were benefiting from the Universal Secondary Education (UPE) in the north.

Meanwhile Cecilia Ogwal, the Dokolo Woman Member of Parliament who spoke as one of the old girls of the school said that she was proud to be a role model due to the career guidance she received from the Comboni missionaries. 

I inspire you girls to study hard and let no one underrate you and with determination you could change the world,” Ogwal said.

Ogwal added that the core founding dream of the Comboni missionaries was to promote girl child education when nuns rode bicycles to convince parents to send their children to school.

Ogwal said that her mother was convinced and sent her to sacred heart SS in the 50s where she became the first girl child to win a national essay award in 1960.   She urged girls to adopt career guidance to build their future.

The Bishop of Gulu Arch Diocese John Baptist Odama who led the mass, appealed to the congregation to practice love, and self giving.