ABSTRACT This study is a critical analysis of children right to education, the state of the law in promoting and protecting the same s well as the role played by the NGOs towards the promotion and protection of the right to education in Uganda. The study was undertaken because of the growing concern about of the illiteracy levels as well as the high numbers of school dropouts t all levels as witnessed in African countries, Uganda being an example. Children are involved in a number of practices such as prostitution in the commercial and tourism sex industry, forced begging on the streets, and forced soldiering. They may be used as camel, dockeys, domestic servants, farm labourers/herders, mine labourers, produce porters, roadside sellers/street vendors, sweetshop-industry labourers, cooks and porters for rebels among others which deprive them of their right to education. Poverty as one of the major causes for the growing numbers of children dropout cases and their involvement in the agricultural sector in Uganda has caused a number of children to engage in child-labour activities to earn extra income for household survival at the peril of education. Many children have opted for partial attendance in school, eventually dropping out. Parents have also frequently influenced children to work on family farms, thus contributing to the children dropping out of school. Child-labour practices have become entrenched in the social and moral fabric of Ugandan society, and for this reason, research endeavors to uncover ways and methods to reverse this situation.
