Parents urged to verify schools' statuses before paying fees

As schools reopen for finalists and candidate classes on Thursday, the education ministry has asked parents to pay fees at only those schools that have been granted certificates of compliance.

According to the education ministry, only schools issued with certificates of compliance will be allowed to open.

"We are going to publish all the schools that were authorised per district. We ask parents to halt the paying of school fees until a school is confirmed. We anticipate that some are already asking for fees," Benson Kule Baritazale, the commissioner secondary education standards, who is co-ordinating the inspection of schools, said.

He said information regarding the status of all schools will be available on the education ministry's website.

The ministry says all schools which will have qualified to open, will be published through all the media platforms available.

Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda, the director of education standards at the ministry, said both schools and other tertiary institutions must not reopen until they are inspected.

"We are aware that a number districts are yet to complete the inspection and issue certificates. Schools should not open until they are inspected," she said.

Turyagyenda warned that those who reopen before certification, will have broken the health guidelines for schools which were set by the Government and will be dealt with accordingly.

She said a number of districts delayed to start the inspection exercise and that this has caused the delay in some parts.

"The leaders in some districts did not strategise well on how inspection was to be handled. If they started last week on Monday like it had been planned, all schools would be knowing their status by now," she said.

Turyagenda noted that students can go with sanitisers, as long as they are kept by the schools.

"The reason why we are cautious on sanitisers is because they are highly flammable. There could be infernos if they are not well regulated. We have, therefore, asked schools and other tertiary institutions to be the ones in charge," she said.

She the ministry has placed restrictions on sanitisers because some students may be tempted to drink it since it is largely alcohol.

Update on inspection

By Wednesday evening, several districts had concluded the inspection exercise and were in the process of issuing certificates of compliance to schools.

According to statistics shared by the Directorate of Education Standards (DES), over 20 districts in western Uganda had completed inspection and were reviewing inspection reports.

These include Bundibugyo, Bushenyi, Bunyangabu, Buliisa, Hoima, Kagadi, Kasese and Kanungu. Others are Kakumiro, Kamwenge Kibaale, Kikuube, Kiryandongo, Kisoro, Masindi, Mitooma, Ibanda, Isingiro, Ntungamo, Ntoroko and Rukungiri.

The inspection preliminary report, indicates that Rubirizi district had already issued certificates to several schools.

In Rubirizi, 105 schools were inspected. Of these, 93 were authorised, six are waiting for a second inspection after they scored between 50% and 59%.

However, six others in the same district failed to meet the standards and they have since been notified to transfer the candidates.

In Kasese municipality, 77 primary schools were authorised, three are pending whereas eight others were not. In the same municipality, 21 secondary schools were authorised, one was not and another was yet to be inspected.

Eight business technical vocational education and training (BTVET) institutes were authorised, three are waiting for authorisation whereas four others are yet to be inspected.

Elsewhere

In Pallisa district, 116 primary schools qualified, 16 are pending whereas 13 others did not qualify.

Under the secondary school category in Palisa, 24 of them qualified, one is pending while six BTVET institutions qualified.

In Adjumani, Obongi and Yumbe, the inspectors were still in the field and most of the schools had not yet been inspected.

Emmanuel Owilli, a senior inspector of schools attached to the DES northern region office, who is also supervising the trio, said: "We hope to finish today."

The biggest challenges, he said, was that schools in the above districts are sparsely distributed and the roads impassable.

"In Obongi, all the roads are impassable. River Nile flooded and it caused havoc this side. We have deployed retired teachers (associate inspectors) to support in the inspection exercise. Otherwise, it is tedious," he said.

Temperature guns

Private schools under the Proprietors of Private Educational Institutions in Uganda have received a donation of over 1,000 temperature guns from both local and foreign partners in education.