Uganda, Feb. 7 -- A disturbingly low turnout of learners stuck out like the metaphorical sore thumb at the start of the new school calendar this week. As this newspaper has reported throughout the week, the numbers in schools domiciled in both rural and urban areas have assumed a mournful edge.

In the capital, empirical evidence adduced by the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) indicated that nearly a half of the expected pupils were a no-show. Predictably, the report card in rural areas made for more grim reading. Anecdotal evidence, in part, attributed the troubling dimension to infrastructural bottlenecks occasioned by torrential downpours that have pounded various rural areas in the country.

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