The wait is over – Campuses reopen to final-year students

A number of students and educationists in Uganda have welcomed the government’s move to reopen institutions of higher learning on Wednesday this week (15 October), albeit only for final-year undergraduate and graduate learners.

“It is such a relief, really, that we have a definite date we shall be returning to campus,” said Irene Nayiga, a final-year bachelor of business computing student at Makerere University Business School. “It has not been easy sitting at home all these months not sure when universities would open. Now we can complete our academic year.”

President Yoweri Museveni gave the green light to the reopening of educational institutions for final-year students last month, having closed campuses in March to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

The cost of waiting is ‘quite high’

“We have decided to reopen schools for finalists in tertiary colleges and universities because the cost of waiting any further is quite high,” said Museveni. “If the batch of 2020 do not move on, what will happen to the batch of 2021? Can we afford to have two batches in 2021? The answer is a clear ‘No’. [Two batches] would create a jam in terms of the usual transition from primary schools to secondary schools and then tertiary colleges or universities.”

He said the final-year students would return to the campuses on 15 October. International schools that have fewer numbers and could reliably implement social distancing should engage the health ministry on the way forward. Otherwise, government would find a solution for the non-finalist learners by January 2021.

Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, vice-chancellor for Makerere University, welcomed the president’s directive — much as it catered for only final-year students — and said arrangements to receive the learners were under way.

“Final-year medical students will resume studies for the second semester on 3 October 2020 and end on 28 November 2020,” said Nawangwe in a statement. “The rest of the final-year undergraduate and graduate students will report on 17 October 2020 and end on 12 December 2020.”

Frank Obonyo, communications officer for the Uganda Christian University, said the institution was more than ready to receive its final-year students.

“We suspected government would reopen education institutions before the year ended and planned in advance,” said Obonyo in an interview. “We shall be issuing guidelines on how we shall receive the students.”

But some are sceptical about allowing students to return when the country is still grappling with cases of infection.

‘No alternative’

“E-learning would be the ideal medium of instruction during this crisis,” said Michael Niyitegeka, programme director at Clarke International University. “We are welcoming resumption of contact learning despite the fact that the coronavirus is still a threat because we don’t have an alternative.”

Museveni, however, said learners should be safe if they and their institutions adhere to Ministry of Health’s guidelines and standard operating procedures for the prevention of COVID-19.

“The total number of finalists [in the education institutions] is less than 10% of the total enrolment. Therefore, each group of finalists will have bigger space for social distancing,” he said.

Earlier last month, the National Council for Higher Education released stringent guidelines for the reopening of institutions of higher learning for final-year students undertaking health-related training.

Nawangwe was confident Makerere University had enough infrastructure and human resources to comply with the guidelines.

“Students who were ordinarily residing in halls of residence will be admitted in the halls of residence and the non-residents will continue residing off campus. This is because the capacity of the halls of residence cannot accommodate all of them,” said the vice-chancellor.

Prioritising safety

He said the university would make all relevant announcements to students in good time to allow foreign learners to undergo quarantine if necessary. “We shall prioritise the safety of our students and staff,” he said.

Obonyo said staff at the university hospital would take the learners through COVID-19 prevention and control training to minimise infection risk.

“Our lecture rooms are big enough and have wide windows and allow proper ventilation [recommended in prevention of COVID-19]. Our halls of residence accommodate over 2,000 students. The finalists aren’t even half that number,” he said.

But Niyitegeka called on government to prioritise greater access and lower costs for reliable internet in the country, moving forward.

“We are welcoming resumption of contact learning during this crisis … because we don’t have an alternative. What choice do we have? We are between a rock and a hard place,” said Niyitegeka, who is also the international computer driving licence (ICDL) Africa country manager for Uganda.

“E-learning is definitely what would be ideal [during this crisis]. But you need access to reliable and affordable internet to have a fully functional e-learning environment,” said Niyitegeka.

“Many Ugandans have realised that the internet is now a big factor of production during this crisis. Government needs to start treating it like one,” he said.

Museveni said alternative and online learning “will continue to be consolidated, not only for dealing with the present crisis, but also for the future”.