School proprietors opposed to staggered reopening

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A section of school proprietors are opposed to the staggered reopening of schools announced by the government.

Last week, Cabinet approved reopening of schools to non-candidate learners in a “staggered manner” that will ensure compliance with Covid-19 standard operating procedures.

All schools in the country were closed in March 2020 as a measure to control the spread of coronavirus.   In October, the government reopened schools but only for candidate classes after more than six months of inactivity. The schools were required to adhere to the covid-19 guidelines to curb the spread of the virus.

The latest development has been criticized by education stakeholders especially in the private sector.

Lawrence Ssemujju, the Deputy Headteacher City High in Wakiso says that there is no need to reopen the schools in phases since they are capable of observing the standard operating procedures.

Patrick Nyonyintono, the Director Kann High School says that the small groups of students they are going to be teaching under the staggered approach will be costing them much as they require the same administrative costs when all learners are in school.

Moses Musonge, the headteacher Ebenezer Nursery and Primary School says that despite the commitment by the government to reopen schools, leaving a section of learners as their colleagues are in class will not change anything.

Musonge says that many children will remain home without learning at all due to lack of access to the internet. Musonge also adds that COVID-19 should not permanently stop operations of pre-primary schools as directed by the Ministry of Education.

Expedito Kisekka, the headteacher St Kizito Primary School says that the government should have come up with a comprehensive plan to enable all learners to get back to school rather than in a staggered way. He says that the government should have first inspected all education institutions to ascertain their preparedness to receive all learners.

“Now what was the use of closing schools? We expected the government to come up with a good plan for reopening after research and inspection,” Kisekka says.

Kassim Male, the headteacher Ebenezer Secondary School says his school was prepared to welcome back all the learners. He says that the government decision left him wondering why they have been preparing for all this time to receive all students.

“A lot of time has been wasted and we thought when the government comes out to tell the way forward, it should be reopening for all the learners and strict on observing SOPs” Male indicates.

Wilson Nsubuga, the headteacher Luwero SS says that students have been home for a long period yet the virus is likely to be with us for some time. He says that the government should provide funds to ensure that schools put in place the required SOPs and let all the learners return to school.

******

URN