Parliament tasks education ministry to check state of schools during COVID-19 lockdown

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | Parliament on Thursday afternoon tasked the Ministry of Education and Sports to take keen interest in the status of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

The decision followed a matter of National Importance raised by Kassanda North MP Patrick Nsamba Oshabe in which he complained about the maintenance of schools while students are at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While declaring a lockdown in March to tame the spread of the Coronavirus, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni closed all schools sending home over 1.5 million students. He again in his recent address on COVID-19 insisted that schools remain closed.

Nsamba says that many schools are now surrounded by bushes and added that some pictures making rounds on social media show that some classes have developed anthills during this period.

Nsamba says that when he spoke to some of the Government schools headteachers, they assured him that the schools need maintenance and even though some of them have money on their accounts, they have been ordered not to spend it.

Hanson Obua, the Minister of Sate for Sports said that the government asked all the sectors to re-align their budgets to the fight against COVID-19 and doesn’t understand why headteachers have not done the same to ensure they utilise the resources at their disposal.

Speaker Rebecca Kadaga ruled that the Education Ministry should allow headteachers of Public Schools to use some of the resources they have to manage and maintain schools and their assets.

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