With about 15milion students out of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic. The ministry of education has spoken out on re-opening of schools amid the prevailing conditions of Covid-19 in Uganda.

“The Ministry of Education and Sports has received Sector-specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from the Ministry of Health to guide us in determining our Sector’s readiness to re-open Institutions of
Learning. My Ministry shall review these SOPs and advise Cabinet in due course,” Janet Kataaha Museveni, minister of education said.

The minister made these remarks while delivering her third speech on the state of education in the country while at Nakasero State House on Friday, July 4.

On the matter of an E-Learning Agenda for the Education Sector, the minister said that there has been a misconception in the media that the Ministry of Education and Sports prohibited e-learning.

“This is absolutely not true; we cannot be the ones banning what we are promoting. A number of institutions including Uganda Christian University, Makerere University and several International Schools in Basic and Secondary levels have been utilizing e-learning; even before the outbreak of COVID-19,” Janet said.

“What we are doing as a Sector is to put forward a comprehensive sector-wide agenda to guide the delivery of formal Education through e-learning mechanisms because it has implications on quality of education for the country and its citizens. Once the ICT and E-Learning Framework is complete, we shall communicate it to our stakeholders and the public at large because You all deserve to know,” she added.

When do Schools Re-open?

“His Excellency, the President directed that a Cabinet Sub-Committee be constituted to look into the issue of re-opening of Institutions of Learning. This Committee had representation from the other Ministries such as Health, Local Government, ICT and National Guidance, Science, Innovation and technology. The Committee also consulted with the technical team of scientists that are advising the government on its response to this pandemic,” Janet said.

“After taking into consideration all the views, we resolved that the time was not yet right to have learners go back to their Institutions of Learning – not even for a candidate
classes as we had earlier thought,” She added.

This, the ministry revealed was what they based on to have schools remain closed.

In addition, the ministry also said they are continuing to observe the trends of COVID-19 pandemic within the country, continuing to listen to the local team of Scientists and also listening to the steps and experiences other countries are having.