BY Elijah William | Kyangwali News Staff Writer
As schools set to reopen very soon, parents and guardians of school going children specifically in Kyangwali refugee settlement are worried, not knowing how they will provide scholastic materials for the term. Since March 18, 2020, schools have been shut and learners have been home for more than 6 months to prevent the spread of corona virus. This has devastated about 15 million school going students and pupils in the whole country.
According to the Ministry of Education, all schools are expected to restart for the second term today the 20th of September 2020, beginning with candidate classes; that is to say primary seven (P.7), Senior four (S.4), Senior six (S.6). This also applies to the university finalists and other finalists in tertiary institutions who are in their last academic year. This according to the ministry will eliminate the possibility of registering a dead year. It is expected that other classes will also have to resume after assessing the situation of the attempt on candidates in a period of few weeks.
In the meantime, the whole nation is eagerly waiting for the presidential address scheduled today Sunday 20th of September, 2020. Even with this communique from the Ministry of Education, citizens are hoping for more details from this presidential address with some speculating this may be called a dead year. The president is also expected to give updates on corona virus prevalence and death tolls as well as his decision on easing or tightening the lock down depending on the current situation.
In case schools are to be allowed to restart , many of the parents here in the camp will have to face it rough; they have been hit so hard economically due to Corona virus restrictions and not be able to provide necessities required for school as one parent puts it: “We wish our children to resume their studies but again , most of us depend on monetary support from the World Food Programme for finance, which was unfortunately cut due to Corona effects globally as we were told. We are afraid that our children may continue remaining home,’’ Sadiki Francois said.
Additionally, the burden will have to increase on the side of the candidate classes especially those in Secondary school who will not only pay school fee dues but also Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) registration fee. With this at hand, parents and guardians plead to humanitarian organizations dealing with education like Windle Trust Uganda to work with the government of Uganda to find a possible resolution for this matter.
Comments