The Minister of Education, Janet Museveni, has reassured MPs that government has undertaken necessary preparations to ensure safety of all students when they resume studies on January 10.
In a December 17 letter to the Speaker of Parliament and MPs, Ms Museveni said her ministry together with that of Health have put in place measures to keep students and teachers safe, while making up for the time lost during the lockdown.
“The Ministry of Education and Sports, working closely with the Ministry of Health, has finalised both the school calendar for reopening of schools and requisite guidelines; to promote safe learning environments and mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in schools,” the letter reads.
The strategies include vaccination of all teaching and non-teaching staff as well as learners aged above 18 years in tertiary institutions, strengthening Covid-19 surveillance and adherence to the standards operating procedures (SOPs)
“Those who are not vaccinated must not be allowed to access any school premises. The emergence of the new Covid-19 variant calls for us not to be complacent about safety measures which include vaccination,” Ms Museveni’s letter adds.
She also informed Parliament that Shs62.6 billion of the capitation grant has been earmarked for the refurbishment of schools.
According to the letter, the ministry has so far trained 2,310 teachers as master trainers in private and public schools on strategies for recovery of lost learning time, and psycho-social support to learners and teachers.
“As a ministry, what we are against is arbitrary increase of school charges. Therefore, we appeal to schools to be mindful that these learners are coming from families that have equally been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. We have guided that upon reopening, even as it were after the first lockdown, parents should not be asked to pay higher school fees than what they were paying before school closures,” the letter reads.
The minister also informed the legislators that students who had fully paid school fees but spent less than two weeks at school, including those joining Senior Two, will be exempted from first term fees.
In her letter, Ms Museveni says her failure to meet the legislators was as a result of “other competing demands.”
Opposition Members of Parliament had on a number of occasions petitioned the Speaker to summon the Education minister to the House to explain the plan for school reopening.
Ms Museveni last month abruptly called off plans to meet the MPs at the Kololo Independence Grounds where she was expected to present the school reopening plan.
