The education ministry has revealed that reading materials worth sh48b will be distributed to students across the country.

According to the ministry, the materials will be distributed to learners in lower primary classes and the upper secondary schools.

The lower primary school classes include Primary One to Primary Four, whereas the upper secondary cover both Senior Five and Senior Six.

The distribution exercise, which is expected in three weeks’ time, will be the second batch of the distribution of self-study materials to learners by the ministry.

Under the first batch, study materials were distributed to learners at both upper primary and lower secondary school levels.

The students covered under the first batch included those in Primary Five to Primary Seven at primary, and Senior One to Senior Four at secondary school.

Dr Denis Mugimba, the education ministry spokesperson, explained that the reading materials will be distributed through both public and private schools.

According to him, the schools will be tasked with distributing the materials to the respective students.

He added that the schools will receive the reading materials depending on their respective students’ enrolment.

“These books should not be stored in school libraries. They will be distributed for learners. We expect that once schools receive them, they should be given to learners,” he said.

The reading materials will be printed and distributed by three local firms, including the New Vision Printing and Publishing Company.

The New Vision has been contracted to handle the western region, according to the ministry.

The other contractors are MK Publishers, who will handle northern Uganda and River Flow for central. The tender for the eastern region has been re-advertised.

Mugimba made the remarks on Monday while addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre, on the developments in the education ministry.

On vaccination, the education ministry said they target to vaccinate one million people in the sector.

These include 730,000 teaching and non-teaching staff at academic institutions, and 300,000 students aged 18 and above.