President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni has ordered his wife and education minister Janet on expeditiously meeting the necessary guidelines for school reopening.
On Sunday, September 05, officials from the ministries of education and health met for a preparatory meeting to discuss reopening of education institutions.
In June 2021, a second wave of the Covid19 disrupted the phased reopening of schools.
At the end of July 2020, President Museveni eased the total lockdown but left schools closed until the vaccination of all stakeholders in education institutions — teachers, non-teaching staff and learners.
After Sunday’s meeting between the ministry of education and sports and that of health, another meeting happened on September 07.
The Tuesday meeting, chaired by President Museveni himself, saw the education ministry present proposals for school reopening.
The officials from the ministry of education and that of health told Museveni and the Covid19 National Taskforce that only about 38 per cent of the teachers have so far been vaccinated.
The president then ordered his wife and the health ministry to ensure that more is done to increase the numbers of teachers and non-teaching staff as well students of age who take up the doses.
“So far, we have vaccinated 209,527 teachers which is 38.1 per cent. But that is a partial report because we have not yet received all the status reports from upcountry stations of last week,” noted education ministry Dr Dennis Mugimba hours after the meeting.
“The President has recommended a few more steps to make everything tighter. One of these was that we need to be stronger on vaccination of teachers and non-teaching staff and tertiary institutions.”
Dr Mugimba also revealed that Museveni emphasized that the reopening of schools should not make parents more susceptible to looming deadlier Covid19 waves.
“The Ministry of Health also gave a status report on what is happening and the anticipation that there could be the third wave on the horizon,” said Mugimba.
“So, the president also guided that we need to take into consideration the safety of the parents and the elderly in the houses where these learners are coming from.”
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