Girls carrying water at school Credit: UNICEFUgandaWhen a girl drops out of school, the immediate concern is usually what she has lost. Her education is interrupted. Her qualifications may never be completed. The career she once imagined may become harder to reach. But there is another loss that receives far less attention: what society loses when a girl is denied the opportunity to develop her potential. A girl who leaves school prematurely leaves behind opportunities to acquire skills, build confidence, access networks, create social capital and discover what she is capable of becoming. And when those opportunities disappear, the loss is not hers alone. Her family, community and country may also lose the contribution she could have made. We cannot know whether that girl would have become a teacher, doctor, entrepreneur, engineer, scientist or community leader. But that uncertainty is precisely why keeping girls in school matters. Education gives them the opportunity to find out. In Uganda, the gap becomes clearer as girls progress through the education system. UNESCO estimates that in 2024, 57.4 per cent of girls completed primary education, compared with 32.5 per cent completing lower secondary and only about 20.3 per cent completing upper secondary. Behind those percentages are thousands of girls whose potential may never have had the opportunity to blossom. Consider a 14-year-old girl in Oyam district. She may be particularly good at mathematics. She may have a talent for writing or public speaking. She may dream of becoming a nurse. Perhaps she will one day build a business that employs others or become the first person in her family to attend university. We simply do not know. And that is the point. Potential only becomes visible when opportunity gives it room to grow. Education does not guarantee success, but it expands the possibilities available to a person. It provides knowledge, qualifications, confidence and access to opportunities that may otherwise remain closed. The benefits also extend beyond the individual. The World Bank estimates that each year of schooling raises women’s earnings by about 12 per cent on average. In Uganda, a World Bank analysis has estimated an average return of about 14.5 per cent for women for each additional year of schooling. Those gains can translate into stronger household incomes and greater investment in children’s education, healthcare and nutrition. As educated women participate more fully in the economy, they become workers, professionals, entrepreneurs, employers and taxpayers. Their contribution can reach far beyond their own households. So, when a girl drops out, the question should not only be, “What job might she miss?” It should also be, “What contribution might Uganda never receive?” The reasons girls leave school are complex. Poverty, teenage pregnancy, child marriage, household responsibilities, distance, safety concerns and inadequate menstrual health support can all interrupt their education. None of these circumstances tells us what a girl was capable of becoming. They tell us only that her opportunity was interrupted. That is why Uganda’s response must go beyond preventing dropout. Girls who leave school need realistic pathways back through second-chance education, vocational training, financial support and safe learning environments. Adolescent mothers and girls pushed out by poverty should not be treated as though their productive years are already behind them. Because the real cost of school dropout cannot be measured only by the number of certificates never earned. It is also measured in the opportunities never explored, businesses never created, patients never treated, children never taught and ideas never brought to life. We will never know exactly who a girl might have become. That is why giving her the opportunity to stay in school is not simply an investment in her future but also an investment in the future contribution of Uganda.The post When a girl drops out of school, what does society lose? appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.