Secondary and primary schools yesterday officially reopened for candidates as scheduled by government. The ministry of education together with the health ministry set various Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for schools.
These include; social distancing, deployment of sanitizers and wearing of masks at all times. Journalist Sarah Biryomumaisho has tweeted claiming that popular school Gombe SS is charging Shs20000 per face mask before accepting back its students.
“At Gombe SS, students who reported on Thursday weren’t allowed to register unless they adhered to buying the face masks supplied by the school at UGX20,000 per mask. Can’t say I didn’t see this coming. We know schools need money but a 20k mask better come with immunity,” Biryomumaisho said in a tweet.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health asked for Shs5.7b to procure face masks for all candidates. The ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, while appearing before Parliament’s budget committee said the masks will cater for the 2,757,722 students in both private and government-aided schools. However, three months ago when Gov’t started on easing lockdown, the health ministry procured face masks worth Shs89b for all Ugandans above six-years old.