The State Minister of Education, Hon. Chrysostom Muyingo, in a statement to Parliament on the planned re-opening of Academic Institutions, says Government will provide every student atleast two (2) face masks as they report back to Schools.
The Speaker has tasked Muyingo to explain why the Government reached at the decision to re-open schools at the end of the year and what the Education ministry will do to school that were used as quarantine centres.
Hon. Joseph Ssewungu wondered whether the Government will manage to distribute masks to all candidates going back to Schools, when they failed to distribute the same face masks to the entire country.
When the COVID19 cases were few Government closed schools, now that that the COVID cases have increased, the Gov’t has decided to reopen schools, noted Hon. Esiangu Kenneth.
“We are remaining with approximately two months to the end the year, why would Gov’t choose to reopen schools?” he added.
Muyingo says that the ministry intends to scale up digital learning to ensure that all students across the country and e covered.
He notes that the plans by the Ministry equally captures the concerns of the Special interest groups.
Hon. Sarah Opendi urged the MPs to support Government position to re-open schools in a phased manner.
She noted that there is no guarantee that “we” have the vaccine by early next year.
“COVID19 should not permanently stop us from Operating.”
The MPs are concerned that the ministry of Education and Sports did not consult them as stakeholders in coming up with the plan to re-open schools.
The Speaker tasked the State Minister of Education, Hon. Muyingo to explain how they came up with the plan to reopen schools and who they consulted.
The academic calendar is to the effect that the second term is set to start on the 15th of October and end on the 18th of December.
Third term will start on the 11th of January 2021 and end on the 30th of April 2021.
Muyingo reiterated that there will be no dead year for all students.
MPs including Geoffrey Macho and Johnson Muyanja critique the plans amidst COVID19 pandemic.