Uganda schools to reopen September 20 for candidates

Primary school pupils pose for a selfie, education institutions were closed in the country have control the COVID-19 pandemic

Uganda schools are set to reopen for all candidate classes later this month after being closed for six months by the government in a measure to stem the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the letter by the First Lady and Education Minister, Janet Museveni to Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, the Education Ministry requests that capitation grants be released for government schools to reopen for the new term.

Capitation grants are funds from the government sent to schools to spend on instructional materials, co-curricular activities, school maintenance, and payment for utilities such as electricity and water.

“I refer to the meeting held on September 1, 2020, by the President and the national Covid-19 taskforce at State House Entebbe. The meeting resolved that a phased reopening of schools starting with candidate classes be implemented starting with September 20, 2020,” Mrs Museveni wrote.

In government-aided schools, each pupil gets shs17,000 per year in government-aided primary schools, whereas in secondary schools, each A-level student gets shs88000 and shs55000 for O-level per term as capitation grant.

President Museveni recently allowed educational institutions to reopen for final year students undertaking health-related courses.

A letter from Mary Okwakol, the executive director of the National Council for Higher Education (NHCE) detailed that the president ha approved the reopening of institutions with final year students undertaking Health-Related Training.

The approval was aimed at enabling medical students to complete their studies so as to fill the Human Resource gap the Health sector would likely face.

Finalist nurses and other medical students allowed to resume school in Uganda

Finalists undertaking Bachelor of Medicine, and Bachelor of Surgery, Nursing, Midwifery, Dental Surgery, Pharmacy and other health-related disciplines were allowed to resume.

The national Covid-19 taskforce headed by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda in a meeting with the President early this week proposed the reopening of Entebbe airport, borders and places of worship but under strict guidelines to be followed.