Makerere University has on Friday June 5 asked the Ministry of Education and Sports to accept a partial reopening of the the university by allowing the Internship and industrial training to resume even before actual re-opening.
Professor Barnabas Nawangwe the University Vice Chancellor said the proposal to Ministry of Education and Sports was submitted by Senate after an online meeting.
“At its online meeting today [June 5 2020] Senate agreed to recommend to the Ministry of Education and Sports, a proposal for Internship and industrial training to proceed even before re-opening,” the VC wrote on Twitter.
The Ministry of Education and Sports last week advised administrators of schools and other educational institutions including universities not to rush to set guidelines and dates on when they expect to reopen their gates for finalists.
Recently, President Kaguta Museveni who directed the closure of all educational institutions in March due to the outbreak of the Covid-19, recently postponed opening for candidates in primary seven, senior four, senior six, and those in their final years in Universities and Tertiary Institutions citing a surge in coronavirus infections.
This was after universities had set guidelines and conditions for the finalists to access the universities.
“We have decided we should not bite too much at a time. We have decided to postpone the opening of the schools for candidate classes for one month,” the President said as he addressed the country on Monday June 1.
President Museveni said candidate classes of about 1.4 million students of all categories don’t have enough kits, pausing a serious risk for the ‘grandchildren’.
The president directed that all finalists should now use distance learning through media, including radio and TV.
Meanwhile, several government institutions including UCC, NSSF and Vision Group have since canceled their internship and graduate industrial training programs for 2020, citing COVID-19 challenges.
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time.
Commentators believe those numbers may get dramatically worse in the weeks ahead.
Others have told students that they are trying out a remote option or are waiting to make a call on whether to cancel or continue.
The education sector is one of the most affected entities by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of when education institutions will start operating is still a mystery.
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