The Ministry of Education and Sports Janet Kataha Museveni has on Monday extended the rescheduled the reopening of primary, secondary schools and universities.
This comes after the President of the Republic, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni extending the lockdown to another 21 days in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Last month, the ministry released a new timetable to address the reopening of schools after the first 14-day lockdown. Tentative dates for reopening at the time were; April 27 for pre-primary, primary and secondary learners. Students at the university level were supposed to resume classes on May 2.
Last week, President Yoweri Museveni appeared to clash with his wife also the Education Minister, Janet Museveni when he questioned the rationale of reopening schools when the country was still battling the coronavirus pandemic. He wondered why schools wanted to "act normal in an abnormal situation."
While addressing the nation today, Ms Museveni said that schools can no longer reopen as was earlier planned.
"Tentative dates of schools opening was April 27 and May 2. This will not be possible in the present circumstances," said the minister.
She said that the Education Ministry will be guided by the COVID-19 taskforce on the next step. The ministry did not specify when schooling will resume but a source from the Education Ministry says that the new dates will be affected by the lifting of the lockdown.
"For now, new dates will only be communicated if the lockdown is lifted. New dates cannot be communicated as of now," said the source.
In the meantime, the Education Ministry has developed a framework to enable the continuity of learning during the lockdown. According to the new framework, learners will be taught on radio and TV.
According to the framework, learning that will take place on TV and radios will cater for learners in primary and secondary. Students in tertiary institutions and universities are required to carry out personal reading and research during this time.
Data from the Education Minister shows that over 15 million learners are out of school during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda. Uganda has so far confirmed 55 cases and 38 recoveries.
