As the plans to reopen education institutions are underway, the Ministry of Education and Sports together with the Ministry of Health are drawing up guidelines to be followed by schools if they are to reopen during this COVID-19 pandemic.
The State Minister for Higher Education Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo says that schools must follow the guidelines given to them by the Ministry of Health so that they keep students safe from contracting COVID-19.
“We want schools to ensure that the environment for our children is safe, secure and healthy. We want to ensure that our children are not sick and if any of them falls sick, the institution will take maximum care of the child,” Muyingo said.
He added that schools are required to renovate their old buildings and build new ones to reduce congestion in a bid to observe social distancing as per the Ministry’s directives.
Schools are also required to provide facemasks for all students whereas all teachers and students will be tested for COVID-19 before allowing them back to school.
There were plans to have candidates and final year students return to school first, but those plans were put on hold. Now, the Education Ministry is looking at having 100 tertiary institutions and 50 universities reopen first. Cabinet is meeting today to draw plans on how that will be handled.