KAMPALA, 7 February 2021 – Schools across Uganda have been cleared to reopened in “staggered manner” effective next March 1, President Yoweri Musveni has said.
Students will attend in-person classes under a staggered system that will break up school attendance into groups in keeping with recommendations by the country’s ministry of education or school authorities.
Quality Basic Edcuation in Uganda – Photo UNICEF
Museveni expressed disappointment with Members of Parliament who rejected a proposal to resume through home-schooling, with lessons brought to students via radio and television broadcasts.
Parliament declined to allocated resources for the “school by radio and television” program which required $91.89 million (Shs 336.8 billion) to purchase nine million radio sets, at least.
Media reports said the MPs were turned off by a visit to the purported site of the manufacture of radio sets which revealed that authorities were really planning to import the radio sets.
Schools will resume in-person learning to complete the 2020 academic year which will run up to end of July 2021, Museveni said in a televised address..
Students volunteer to solve problems – Photo UNICEF
The academic year in Uganda is usually from late January to early December.
The outbreak last March of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the authorities to shutdown all schools.
The Ugandan leader also gave the all-clear for universities and other tertiary institutions to resume on-campus classes in a “staggered” manner, stressing that COVID-19 restrictions will remain in force.
Also on education, Uganda’s development education minister, Janet Museveni, said pupils in nursery and pre-primary school programs will not resume until COVID-19 is under control.
