While many people are struggling to recover from the effects of the COVID-19, the story is different for Abbey Lukyamuzi, a youth living with disability in Masaka town, who has ventured into the reproduction and distribution of learners' home-school material in his area.
The Principal of Bukalasa Agricultural College Gelvan Kisolo Lule said the renovation works were a big achievement in the history of the college because they were operating in old-fashioned structures for years.
A report from the district education department shows that some of the school classroom blocks collapsed whereas others have developed cracks because of being submerged resulting from the rising water levels.
Nakasongola District Education Officer, George William Kajura, says that when the Ministry of Education and Sports delivered home study learning materials recently to the schools they found them under lock and key.
According to the teachers, with the absence of reliable home-based study materials for learners with special needs especially those who study in the sign-language model, many of them have been demotivated and there is a likelihood that a big number may not return to school.
According to Ssemutono, a substantial number of children in the district does not complete the ordinary secondary education level, which affects human resource development in the area.
Robinson Obwot, the Gulu City Inspector of Schools said the initial design of the program did not involve education experts to offer technical guidance before the initiative was rolled out.
The proprietors say that they are currently on the verge of losing their properties over failure to pay back the loans they obtained to run the schools.
The government planned to procure radio sets as one of the measures to ensure that there was continuity in learning after the closure of all educational institutions and other concentration centres following an outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
According to the charge sheet prepared by Brenda Kimbugwe, Manager Prosecution in the Inspectorate of Government endorsed by Jane Frances Abodo, the Director Public Prosecution – DPP, the suspects caused the government a financial loss of more than Shillings 27.4 million between May 2015 and April 2016.
Sicola Tumwebaze, a strategy officer at Action for Batwa Empowerment Group (ABEG) says that out of the 220 Batwa household visited, 140 never attained formal education despite the introduction of Universal Primary and Secondary Education.
Celestino Ocen, the Principal Brother Conrad Vocational and Technical Institute, says that only 23 of the 70 registered candidates have turned for the Exam.
But Janet Lydia Ajwang, the head teacher Ikwera Negri School for the disabled, says due to financial burdens imposed on the parents by Covid-19 lock down, they have resolved to lower the school fees from 215,000 shillings to 120,000 shillings for the boarding learners.
Due to the high number of pregnancy cases recorded during the lockdown, ministry of education officials expected to have over 1,000 finalists in this state. However according to preliminary investigations, less than 200 finalists reported to education institutions when they were pregnant
The government program which will be conducted in vocational institutions starting February to April 2021, across the country at a free cost is meant to empower the youths will skills that enable them to sustain themselves in life.
Filbert Baguma, the Secretary-General of the Uganda National Teachers Union-UNATU says the decision to re-open schools is timely and welcome. He says following the re-opening of markets, arcades, public transport and places of worship, it was high time that schools were re-opened.
Eleven months after school closures due to the covid-19 pandemic, Filbert Baguma, the Uganda national teachers Union executive secretary says that at this rate the government needs to think outside the box and develop several strategies for different situations and different schools.
According to the revised school calendar, the school term which was scheduled to start on January 11, 2021, will now start on January 18, 2021, a few days after the general election. Ugandans will go to the polls on January 14, 2021 to vote for a President, Members of Parliament and district leaders.
“If you have a wheel chair and travelling on a bus, they will charge you and charge your wheel chair too”, Dr. Coole said, advising that the disabled can only defeat mistreatment by acquiring more for education.
