First school term to continue after lockdown-MOE

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Schools will pick up from where they stopped with the first term  of learning after the 30-day school lockdown, according to the Ministry of Education and sports. 

The school term was prematurely cut short on March  19,2020 as a precautionary measure to forestall the spread of COVID-19. At the time of the closure, President Yoweri Museveni observes that it was paramount to protect the more than 15 million learners enrolled in schools at different education levels.

The Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni  today announced that schools will tentatively reopen on April 27, 2020 and pick up from where they stopped before the school term was cut short.

Initially the first term was supposed to close on May 1,2020. However with the new changes, the first term will end on June 12,2020.

“When the school term opens, the first term will continue. No extra fees should be charged when schools reopens,”Mrs Museveni said.

The second term will then open on June 22,2020 and close on September 4,2020 and the third  term will consequently start on September 21 and close on 19 December,2020 as opposed to earlier set dates.

Due to the changes in the school calendar, Mrs Museveni says that schools are banned from giving candidates several mock examinations as is the normal practice.

“All schools are banned from engaging students from extra sets of mocks this year to ensure that the syllabus recovery term is not misused. All learners will sit for one set of internal mock examinations at the end of second term,”the minister said.

The education minister encouraged teachers to use this time away from classrooms to prepare  lesson plans that will enable proper syllabus coverage.

“Teachers are encouraged to prepare all lesson for the remaining part of the term before school reopens,” Mrs Museveni said.

As learners wait for the school term to open, the education ministry is going to provide learning material that can be accessed on both radio and television to keep them busy.

“To ensure that children are learning during this time of school closure, the ministry under the guidance of NCDC standardises self study packages in all the core subjects,” Mrs Museveni said.

Teachers identified by school inspectors and district  education officers will out broadcasted lessons at different times. The plans announced by the education ministry are part of Education Response Plan to COVID-19.

So far, Uganda has 48 confirmed cases of the disease. No deaths or recoveries have yet been reported.

******

URN