KAMPALA — The government has resolved that all learners return to school next month February, amid anxiety over financial constraints caused by the pandemic and over how to protect students in often crowded classrooms from the coronavirus.
PML Daily has learnt that Ministry of Education has already released funds including other UGX23b for reading materials.
Mr. Ismail Mulindwa, the director of basic education said the Ministry is holding discussions with national taskforce on Covid-19 on the potential reporting date.
“We have not yet decided the exact date on when they will return. But its next month. We are still in discussions with health authorities,” he said, noting that the exact date will be communicated next week.
According to available information, new students at Makerere University have been asked to start picking admission letters as university resurrects to coronavirus disruptions.
Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe reportedly announced to new and returning students, asking them to pick their admission letters starting next week.
Early last year, school gates around the world slammed shut. Today, an astonishing 15 million young people in Uganda alone are staying home as part of broader shutdowns to protect people from the novel coronavirus.
Healthy officials say the drastic measures worked in many places, dramatically slowing the spread, the virus that causes COVID-19.
As schools resume, school officials worry some children might not return to class because their parents have not been working.
The Ministry of Education has set standards that schools must meet before they can admit students, most of whom could remain at home until as late as this year.
Schools must have enough hand-washing stations and enough room in classrooms and dorms for social distancing.
Although the pandemic has disrupted education around the world, the crisis is more acute in Africa, where up to 80% of students don’t have access to the internet and distance learning is out of reach for many.
Sub-Saharan Africa already had the highest rates of children out of school anywhere in the world, with nearly one-fifth of children between 6 and 11 and more than one-third of youths between 12 and 14 not in school, according to the United Nations.
