SCHOOL REOPENING: Hope for Students in Universities & Other Tertiary Institutions

Students in universities and other tertiary institutions could return to school some time in November 2021, a tentative school reopening program suggests.

Ugandan education institutions have remained largely closed since March 2020 when President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni closed schools to prevent the spread of Covid19.

Universities would later admit new students and even report for a few months before the second wave of Covid19 infections forced government to announce a total lockdown in June 2021.

In a September 16 meeting to discuss safe reopening of schools, officials from the ministries of education and health as well as the National Covid19 Taskforce worked out a plan for resumption of physical learning and teaching.

For institutions with learners below the age of 18 — mostly nursery, primary and secondary schools — reopening could be delayed to January 2022.

Students in universities and other tertiary institutions are largely above 18 and therefore eligible for Covid19 vaccines as opposed to those below 18.

Now, the recommendation is that all learners, instructors and lecturers in universities and other tertiary institutions should be vaccinated to allow safe reopening.

The proposed date for reopening is November 2021.