Makerere University is set to reopen its gates for business on October 3, 2020, Chimp Corps report.
The campus was among the education institutions which were closed in March shortly before the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in Uganda.
But President Museveni recently said allowed education institutions to resume work but only accommodate finalist students.
In a letter to staff dated September 22, Makerere Vice Chancellor, Barnabus Nawangwe said, “at the emergency meeting held yesterday, 21st September 2020, the University Council approved resumption of academic programmes to complete semester 2 of the Academic Year 2019/2020.”
He said final year students on medical programmes will report on 3rd October 2020 and end on 28th November 2020.
“Final year students on all the other programmes and all graduate students will report on 17th October 2020 and end on 12th December 2020,” he added.
“Distance and online teaching for all the continuing students will commence on 5th October 2020 and end by 31st December 2020.”
The University is struggling to come to terms with the fire the gutted the university’s main administration building late last week.
But Nawangwe said the incident would not affect plans to resume studies at Makerere.
“All members of staff are required to report back to their respective workstations with immediate effect and prepare for re-opening of the second semester,” said Nawangwe.
“Heads of Department, Deans and Principals are required to ensure that the Council resolution is operationalized. Each College will prepare a schedule for conduct of examinations for approval by the Senate,” he emphasised.
It remains unclear if the campus is ready to enforce the observation of SOPs to prevent spread of COVID-19 at the campus.
Museveni yesterday said government decided to re-open schools for the candidate classes of P-7, S-4, S-6, finalists in tertiary colleges and finalists in Universities.
“Why? Number one, we think that it is safe because the finalists in each learning institution are a much smaller number compared to the total enrollment in these Centres. Indeed, the total number of finalists is 1.2million learners out of the total of 15million, less than 10%. Therefore, each group of finalists will have bigger space for social-distancing – whether they are in day schools or boarding schools,” said Museveni.
“If they follow the SOPs, they will be safe. Moreover, the cost of waiting any further, is quite high. Why? It is because of the jam that will be created in terms of the usual transition from the Primary School, Lower Secondary schools, Higher Secondary Schools, tertiary colleges and Universities, respectively. 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”. Fortunately, it can be done safely if people follow the SOPs. A solution for the non-finalist learners will be found by January 2021.”