Government to provide two facemasks to each final year student as schools reopen

The Ministry of Education and Sports has announced that government will provide at least two face masks to each learner, as schools reopen for final year candidates.

President Yoweri Museveni, in his 20th address on the Coronavirus pandemic on Sunday, directed the Education Ministry to reopen schools for final year classes at the different levels of education.

While addressing journalists on the new guidelines that will be followed while reopening at the Uganda Media Centre on Thursday, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Alex Kakooza said that each candidate will get two face masks.

“We agreed with the the Ministry of Health that each candidate reporting back to school will be given at least two face masks,” Kakooza said.

Kakooza said that each learner should however have at least one more face mask when they are reporting back to school.

According to the new guidelines, learners in final year classes at the different levels (P7, S4, S6 and final year university students) are expected to report back on October 15th, 2020.

According to the Education Ministry, the total number of finalists in Uganda stands at 1.2 million. This is less than 10% of the total number of learners in Ugandan schools, which is 15 million.

Kakooza said that all government aided schools will meet other necessities such as personal protective equipment including temperature guns, sanitizers and etc.

Private schools have been urged to meet the same using the school budget.

In case a Covid-19 case is registered in a school, the Ministry of Health will asses the situation and take due action, according to Kakooza.

On school fees

The Permanent Secretary said that education institutions shall engage their parents/guardians to adopt flexible fees payment arrangements and allow payment in appropriate installments.

The Ministry of Education had earlier issued a statement that schools will not be allowed to increase fees when institutions of learning finally reopen.

No Dead Year

Kakooza said that there will be no dead year for any learner because learning can continue at home for students who are not candidates or finalists.