KAMPALA – The State Minister for Higher Education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, has asked Uganda Christian University (UCU) to immediately stop the issuance of end of semester online exams, saying that they are violating the presidential directives on closure.
UCU outgoing Vice Chancellor Rev Canon Dr John Senyonyi on March 25 issued a directive, saying that the university would administer Easter Semester Exams in the form of “Take-Home Exams” as the Anglican church-founded institution contends with closure over coronavirus.
All Take Home Exams were to be availed to registered students through the e-Learning platform, emails, WhatsApp, and other means that shall be approved by the university from time to time.
But on Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Dr Muyingo said that no university was privileged to remain operating whether physically or online amidst this pandemic of COVID-19.
“All Ugandans whether in private schools or public schools are under government directives.By the closure of schools, the government meant that every school activity was supposed to shut down, including the running of any online activity. This must stop right now. I promise to intervene immediately,” he told Parliament.
The minister’s warning came after Gilbert Olanya, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Amuru Constituency, raised a matter of national importance, blaming UCU for disrespecting the presidential directive and continued to pester students tuition fees plus threatening them to seat for exams which will be delivered on the university’s Website.
“I want the Minister of Education to intervene in this situation. In my constituency, I know of 6 students from UCU that are burdened by the scheduled examinations. This is a serious issue. Now students, particularly in villages, are not allowed to move to trading centres where they can access the internet to do such exams. I honestly don’t know why do such institutions are still working?” he asked.
He also asked the minister to stop the university from pestering parents tuition fees in such a time when many people are not working. The university had put a deadline for tuition fees on Monday on 6th next week.
