Learners won't undergo mandatory COVID-19 tests - Minister

Oct 06, 2020

The schools will, however, be required to meet the other requirements and Standard Operating Procedures.

Students and pupils returning to school will not be subjected to mandatory COVID-19 tests, health state minister Joyce Moriku has said.

Moriku speaking in Parliament on Tuesday when she said the schools will, however, be required to meet the other requirements and Standard Operating Procedures. 

President Yoweri Museveni recently directed that schools be re-opened for candidate classes. However, he said the Ministry of Health would advise on the procedures to follow to avoid the mass spread of COVID-19.

Moriku said learners will not undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing.
Moriku said learners will not undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing.

 

The Members of Parliament were complaining that the requirements were expensive for schools to meet.

They, therefore, asked the Government to facilitate schools to get sanitizers, soap, and masks. 
 
The same call was also made last week when the MPs argued that with the removal of the capitation grant, the schools were likely to transfer the costs to the parents who are already burdened. 

"Some schools have already sent budgets to the parents asking them to pay money for masks, sanitizers, and soap. They are also asking parents to pay all the fees for the second term. 

"This puts a lot of burden on the parents. Can the ministry provide schools with money to help them buy these requirements," the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Betty Ochan, said during the House sitting last week. 

MP Wilfred Niwagaba asked the education minister to explain whether there were any plans to support schools with the requirements. 

"I have received complaints from teachers saying these requirements are too expensive for them to provide freely," Niwagaba asked. 

 

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