Uganda has ended the world’s longest school closure, ordering millions of students back to the classroom after a gap of nearly two years.
Education Minister John Muyingo who disclosed this to newsmen in the capital, Kampala, said all students would automatically resume classes a year above where they left off.
All schools have implemented guidelines and standard operating procedures to ensure the safe return of children to schools, and measures have been put in place to ensure those who don’t comply do so.
Mr Muyingo warned any private schools demanding fees above pre-pandemic rates would be sanctioned.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had lifted the bulk of COVID-19-related restrictions in the country in September last year, but he left schools shuttered, and announced in October last year that schools would reopen early this year regardless of the vaccination uptake, which is currently low.
The rush to return children to school clogged traffic in Kampala.
Child rights groups had criticised Uganda’s decision to keep schools fully or partially shuttered for 83 weeks, longer than anywhere else in the world.
Meanwhile, Uganda has recorded 153,762 cases of COVID-19 and 3,339 deaths, according to the latest government figures.
BBC