Covid. Uganda reopens schools after 2 years, record closure

Uganda reopens schools today after almost two years. The closure for covid, the longest in the world, risks having a very serious impact on a “lost generation” of children. Although classes have continued remotely via radio, television and the Internet since March 2020, around half of the 10.4 million students are believed to have stopped studying, a government agency reports. Today, writes the New York Times, it is feared that about a third of boys will not return to school: many have gone to work to help parents affected by the economic consequences of the pandemic, but there are also girls who have become mothers in the meantime. Thousands of schools in financial difficulty will not resume classes and many teachers have found another job. In the African country only primary school is free and compulsory, after which you have to pay a fee that many can no longer afford. The very long closure has led to discussions inside and outside the country. The opposition accused the government of taking advantage of COVID to impose stringent lockdown measures designed to stifle dissent ahead of the 2021 presidential election and the protests that followed. Schools officially reopen because, despite the low anticovid vaccination rate, most teachers have been immunized. Education Minister Janet Museveni, wife of President Yoweri Museveni in power since 1986, said the closure of schools was decided to prevent children from infecting their parents and risking becoming orphans like HIV does.