Parents are enthusiastic about the anticipated school reopening.
President Yoweri Museveni had previously said that schools would be shuttered until all students over the age of 12 had received vaccinations.
The news that the administration is considering reopening schools in the near future has parents ecstatic. According to initial indications, schools will resume in two weeks.
Following school closures that began in March 2020 and a gradual re-opening that was cut short in June 2021 because to indications that COVID-19 cases had grown prevalent in schools, Ugandan students have been subjected to a warped school calendar for more than 18 months. According to UNESCO, almost 1.6 billion students in 190 countries have been affected thus far, accounting for 90 percent of the world’s school-aged youngsters.
President Yoweri Museveni had previously said that schools would be shuttered until all students over the age of 12 had received vaccinations. However, children can only be immunized with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, and Uganda has only had access to AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines since the immunization campaign began late last year.
Parents, on the other hand, are afraid that, with educational institutions closed, children would be constantly exposed to immorality and other undesirable activities from within the community, and that, as a result, they will become a lost generation for many. Simon Peter Lyazi, a father of four, applauds the notion of reopening schools, claiming that it will likely protect children from communal “vultures,” in which youngsters spend more time without purpose, supervision, or control.
While Fatia Nalugo, a vendor in Kamwokya market, believes that the government should first ensure that all teachers and students in higher education institutions are vaccinated before reopening schools and other educational institutions, Esther Kyambadde, a resident of Makerere Kivulu, believes that school reopening is long overdue.
However, Kyambadde sees a need for discussions between parents and schools about the best way to compensate parents whose lives have been disrupted by lockdowns.
Veronica Nakalema, a Mulago resident, believes that the longer the schools are closed, the more difficult it will be for parents to persuade their children to return because many of them are now earning money from small businesses, leading them to believe that they are ready for the workforce rather than staying in school.
Although news of the reopening of schools is wonderful, Martin Serubogo, a father in Kisenyi, believes it should not be sudden.
The Ministry of Education had a virtual conference on Monday to examine suggestions for the safe reopening of schools, and it was decided that the academic year 2021 must be completed by June 2022.
