Kabale district Covid-19 task force opposes re-opening of schools

Members of Kabale district Covid-19 taskforce are opposed to the re-opening of schools and institutions for candidate classes and finalists citing lack of preparedness by schools, parents and the government to stop the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

Members raised the concern last Friday during the weekly Covid-19 taskforce meeting that was held at National Teachers College Kabale.

The Kabale district speaker Loy Zikampereza and Perigurino Turinawe both members of the taskforce said that the government was not considerate of the simplest means of transport like bodabodas that learners would use to reach to their schools.

They also said that it is very hard for school administrators to contain and control their learners from escaping from schools and therefore, it may be a very big problem to the country where students are likely to escalate the number of cases in the country. They also said that some parents in the district are hesitant to send their children back to schools currently fearing that their children may contract Covid-19 pandemic.

The Kabale district Covid-19 taskforce head Darius Nandinda said that they will write to the national taskforce guiding that schools should not re-open. He said that they have made a clear survey in all schools in Kabale district as guided by the ministry of health and discovered that some private schools are not ready to contain their students because some schools are too open.

He also wondered how education will resume yet Uganda has international students who are from those countries which are affected by the virus and may not even have transport accessibility to Uganda since air transported was stopped due to Covid-19 pandemic. He suggested the ministry of Education to now wait until the country is declared Covid-19 free.

President Yoweri Museveni in his recent address directed schools to re-open for candidate classes as one of the measure of easing the coronavirus lock down.

Members have since raised their concerns that no measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of students and teachers if schools are to be re-opened.