Back to school, in theory at least, for some 15 million young Ugandans after almost two years of closure due to coronavirus. In the establishments of Kampala, the capital, this “return”, Monday, January 10, was largely devoted to encouraging schoolchildren to wear their masks correctly, to wash their hands and to respect, if possible, the rules of social distancing.
The students resumed lessons one class above the level where they left off. For those who have not entered any form of study in the meantime, the curriculum will be shortened to focus on core subjects and give them a chance to catch up.
An increase of almost 200% of cases
This reopening comes however in the middle of a fourth wave of Covid-19 which has resulted in an increase of nearly 200% of cases in the last 14 days. Despite a very low vaccination rate in the population, authorities say most teachers are now vaccinated. This makes it possible to reopen the classrooms.
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Children’s rights organizations denounced this closure, decided in March 2020, the longest ever observed in the world, by warning in particular of the risks of forced labor, child marriage and teenage pregnancy. ” We may have lost a generation », Says Mary Goretti Nakabugo, executive director of the NGO Uwezo. According to Unesco, only five other countries – the Bahamas, Belize, Brunei, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines – have imposed such long-term closures nationwide.
A third of schoolchildren are at risk of dropping out
As a result, more than half of Ugandan schoolchildren have stopped studying because they cannot access distance learning via television, radio or the Internet. And a third of them are now at risk of not taking them back. Some because they will continue to work to help their families, others because their schools will remain closed.
School owners have had to throw in the towel, being unable to pay the rent on their premises or repay their bank loans. In the meantime, many teachers have retrained in other professions, often more lucrative. The government has warned private schools against increasing registration and tuition fees, with many parents worried they won’t find the money to pay.
The Ugandan education system is a mix of public and private schools, the latter being run by individuals or religious institutions. The closures threaten to undo decades of educational progress in Uganda, one of the first African countries to offer free primary education in 1997. This policy, financed by donors, had made it possible to increase enrollment, recruit teachers and build schools.
Dissenting voices muzzled
Within the opposition, some accuse President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, of using the pandemic to silence dissenting voices after the disputed January 2021 elections.
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Human rights organizations and several diplomats, including US Ambassador Natalie Brown, recently called for the release of writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, 33, arrested in December and tortured, according to his lawyer, for tweeting derogatory remarks on the president and his son, General Kainerugaba, chief of the army. The author won the PEN “Writer of Courage” award in 2021 for his novel The Greedy Barbarian (« The greedy barbarian “). He describes an imaginary country plagued by corruption.
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