On March 18, 2020, just a few days before Uganda confirmed her first COVID-19 case; President Yoweri Museveni addressed the country and issued a number of directives that were intended to prevent the spread of the disease in the country.
Among these was the closure of all schools, universities and other institutions of learning for 32 days. The suspension has since been extended over and over again until now when the Ministry of Education has not set the actual date for the reopening of schools.
According to the State Minister for Higher Education John Chrysostom Muyingo, the Ministry of Education and Sports is still in consultations with all stakeholders in the education sector to come up with a plan and guidelines to be followed by school administrators to ensure learners return in an environment safe from COVID-19.
“We want to come up with a strategy not for only the Ministry of Education, but for us all. After that Cabinet will guide on it and then the public will be notified on the way forward for schools to reopen,” Muyingo said.
At the beginning of this week, the Minister said that schools will be required to renovate their buildings and in some cases build new ones to decongest their classrooms before they can reopen. They will also be required to test students and teachers for COVID-19 as well as providing facemasks to them.
It is all safety first.