KAMPALA – Cabinet is on Monday set to to make a final decision on the reopening of schools other tertiary institutions.
Schools have been limbo as they await government’s final decision on reopening nearly 10 months after closure in March 2020 to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) last week ordered universities and other tertiary institutions to halt physical reopening for the next three months as they study the Covid-19 threat in the country.
But during the NRM Parliamentary Caucus on Saturday, January 30, 2021, Education minister Janet Museveni said the final decision on reopening will be made by Cabinet on Monday, February 1.
Nevertheless, she warned that any form of reopening will be guided by scientific decisions instead of emotional ones.
Mrs Museveni said scientists from the Ministry of Health and the Covid-19 Taskforce must first study the trend of Covid-19 spread before they decide the next course of action.
Ms Museveni’s decision as several universities, which had planned to reopen for first year students, have had to close again following the NCHE directive.
Kyambogo University has cancelled a plan to open to all students. They will instead maintain online learning following a directive from the Ministry of Education for decision on full re-opening to be considered three months from now.
The university had asked students to report on February 1st, 2021 to complete their 2nd semester and semester 1 and 2 studies for the 2020/2021 academic year.
The university resumed for semester two with the Open Distance and E-learning-ODel on January 18th and was supposed to end on January 30th.
The students were expected to report for face to face lectures on Feb 1st to Feb 14th, 2021 and sit their final exams from Feb 15th to 28th.
