Universities plead with government for phased opening

Daily Monitor 06 February 2021

Universities across Uganda have entered into talks with government seeking permission for phased reopening. The universities say they have first-year students who cannot commence online learning because they need to appear at campus for registration and orientation for the academic programmes they have been admitted to, writes Damali Mukhaye for Daily Monitor.

The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) recently ordered universities and other tertiary institutions to halt physical reopening for the next three months as they study the COVID-19 threat in the country. However, the NCHE directed that the institutions can continue with online studies.

Various universities told Daily Monitor that they are stranded with first-year students who cannot be introduced to online learning without being inducted on how the higher education system operates. Professor Umar Kakumba, the Makerere University deputy vice chancellor for academic affairs, said they wrote to the minister of education, Janet Museveni, to allow the university to physically host students, most especially those in their first year, in a phased manner. He said Makerere was slated to conduct orientation of new students last week, but this had been suspended indefinitely after realising that one week would not be enough to induct the students.
Full report on the Daily Monitor site

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