The education ministry has kicked off preparations for the eventual re-opening of schools. For a start, the education ministry has commenced a nationwide training of COVID-19 focal persons who will be in charge of inspecting academic institutions.

The personnel, dubbed, ‘the COVID-19 national trainers of trainers (TOTs),’ will also be in charge of training other teachers, schools heads, and district local governments on reporting of COVID-19 cases.

As part of instructions, these have been directed not to allow any un-vaccinated teacher or support staff to access school premises when the schools reopen.

According to the ministry, the schools are expected to reopen after October.

In the guidelines provided to the TOTs on Monday, for day-scholars, schools will be asked to send home any child who shows signs and symptoms of cough, flu, running nose and sore throat.

For boarding schools, only mild cases will be cared for at the school isolation centres, which are required to be interconnected with a nearby health facility.

“Students with flue-like symptoms, such as cough, runny nose, sore throat, must remain home or be sent back, until they are fully recovered,” the instructions to TOTs read.

In addition, all students will be screened for, among other things, diarrhoea.

As part of the instructions, schools will be required to disinfect study room floors, wall surfaces, furniture, doors and frames; wet areas, wash rooms and bathrooms on a daily basis.

The instructions were read to the TOTs yesterday, during a training held at Kololo Secondary School in Kampala.

Starting this Friday, TOTs who were drawn from the 15 education ministry regions are expected to train regional representatives.

The regional trainings are expected to attract school heads and district health officers.

The regional trainees will then pass over the same instructions to stakeholders in their localities.

SCHOOL CALENDAR

Education ministry spokesperson Dr Dennis Mugimba said the ministry will issue a new school calendar once Cabinet allows schools to reopen, with clear dates of school reopening.

He said the ministry had proposed October as the target month for schools to reopen and that this was rejected following guidance by President Yoweri Museveni.

He said both the education and health ministries are scheduled to meet the Prime Minister on the matter.

The President last week directed the Prime Minister to call a meeting this week to come up with a precise plan and dates for reopening of schools.

The meeting will be attended by a team drawn from the education ministry, health ministry and the national COVID-19 taskforce.

The President issued the directive after meeting the national COVID-19 taskforce and the education ministry, led by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, to discuss plans on how reopening of schools should be handled safely in the face of the pandemic.

At the meeting, the education minister also presented a proposal on how the ministry intends to support continuity of learning and the safe reopening of schools to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Mrs. Museveni also presented plans to train schools on COVID-19 surveillance and distribution of home study materials to be delivered to schools starting late September to early October. A total of sh4.8b has been allocated to facilitate production of home learning materials.

At the meeting, the President recommended vaccination of more teachers and non-teaching staff and students in tertiary institutions.

The health ministry recommended that if at least five million people are vaccinated, it would provide a safe window for schools to reopen.

The ministry estimates that the target of vaccinating five million people would be achieved by the end of October, to facilitate the reopening of schools.

The country also intends to vaccinate up to 22 million people who are above the age of 18, to achieve herd immunity, as guided by the World Health Organisation.

JUSTIFICATION FOR REOPENING

The NPA Technical Note on school reopening recommended that schools should be reopened to save the country from future catastrophe in the sector.

Whereas government committed to supporting the continuation of learning through several options, including remote learning, NPA says evidence shows that majority (51%) of learners across the entire education system stopped learning with the closure of their schools.

In addition, NPA says more learning has been lost in the primary sub-sector (60%) compared to secondary (44%) and tertiary (42%) sub-sectors (FAWE, 2021).

Due to prolonged school closures, NPA projects that 30% of the learners are likely not to return to school.