Ministry of Education sets new date for S.2 students to return to school

The Ministry of Education has set Thursday May 13^th 2021 as the day when Senior 2 students will return to school.

Earlier, the Ministry had set May 31^st as the day for the students to go back to school, due to the UCE and UACE examinations.

However, Alex Kakooza the Permanent Secretary Ministry of health, in a letter dated 6^th May 2021 and addressed to Head Teachers of secondary schools, Resident District Commissioners, Chief Administrative Officers, Town Clerks. Municipal Councils, District Education Officers, District Inspectors of Schools, Municipal Education Officers and Municipal Inspectors of Schools, says that following the completion of UCE and UACE examinations by S4 and S6 learners respectively, more space has been created in schools to accommodate an extra class while observing the Covid-19 SOPs.

“Considering the urgent need for recovery of lost learning time and the negative impact of long absence from school on young adolescents, the Ministry of Education and Sports, in Consultation with stakeholders, has brought forward the reporting date for S2 by about two weeks” Kakooza says.

He noted that instead of 31^st May 2021, the S2 learners will now report back to school on to 13″ May 2021 and break off on 24th July 2021. However, this reporting date does not apply to S2 learners in the schools currently being used by UNEB as examination marking centres. The S2 learners in these schools will report on 8″ June.

School administrators have been urged to work with parents on flexible fees payment schedules, where applicable, given the short notice and the financial constraints many families are going through.

The students have not been in school since March 2020 when President Yoweri Museveni announced a nationwide lockdown.