The State Minister for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo, has said that the education ministry is now ready to reopen the schools noting that they are only waiting for green light from the Ministry of Health.
Education institutions were closed on March 20 to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. While other businesses have been allowed to resume, education and religious institutions remain closed.
Muyingo said: “For us as the ministry, we are waiting for guidance from the ministry of Health. We are set to start provided the ministry of Health gives us a go ahead.”
Minister Muyingo said they have sent a team of experts from the ministry of education and ministry of health and that national taskforce to study and assess the preparedness of schools before opening.
“We have a team of education inspectors who are in the field to find out whether our institutions are prepared so that they also contribute to the final decision whether schools will be reopened or not,” he said.
He however said the country should not forget that the government is much concern about the lives of Ugandans by ensuring that everyone is safe from the deadly pandemic.
“The most important responsibility of government is to ensure that the citizens are safe and secure from the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic is still in place even some Ugandans have started dying,”he said
“For us as the ministry of Education we can’t tell you when the schools are going to open until the ministry of Health tells us to go ahead. That’s the advice we are waiting for.”
President Yoweri Museveni who was delivering his 19th address on the coronavirus pandemic in Uganda and related issues urged school goers to continue with distance learning and promised that government will make a major decision on the matter before September.
“We shall have to make a big decision on schools by September,” said the President, who added that schools present a unique challenge because they attract large numbers.
“Let’s not rush,” Museveni cautions. His explanation is that a vaccine could be discovered in the coming weeks. And locally, at that, without having to depend on foreign research teams.
