Africa-Press – Uganda. Parents in Lango Sub-region have asked government to introduce home teaching since there is a lot of uncertainty on when schools will reopen.
The parents say the constant speculation of when schools will be allowed to reopen for the rest of the students is confusing them and the children are losing hope of ever returning to school.
They suggest that learners from a particular villages and residential areas can converge in a church or open space like under trees to learn instead of being idle at home.
“As parents, we are deeply concerned and worried about the future of our children because they have not studied for nearly a year because of Covid-19,” Mr Patrick Oceng, a resident of Ober Kampala Cell in Lira City, said.
He added: “We have teachers who are redundant at home yet they are earning free salary. Why can’t the government task them to teach our children from home, since we can identify venues where our children can converge for lessons.”
Mr Daniel Okwir, a parent, says they are worried that their children have forgotten all the knowledge they had acquired because they have not studied for so long.
“My child was very bright, but now he is no longer interested in studies and whenever I ask him to revise, he asks me when he will be going back to school,” Mr Okwir says.
Ms Susan Atim of Kakoge in Lira City West Division, said: “Some girls have become so big and others have already produced children and returning them back to school will become a big challenge to us parents,” she says.
The Lira City inspector of schools, Mr Ronald Omara, warned schools against illegal reopening saying their institutes risk being closed permanently.
He says the government is weighing all options of reopening schools but does not want to endanger the lives of learners.
“There are about 20 standard operating procedures put in place which schools must adhere to but we carried out inspections and found many schools lacking,” Mr Omara says.
He says the parents are crying that schools should be reopened yet many of them are not even paying school fees for the few students who have returned to school to sit for their final exams.
He also warned against unnecessary increment of school fees since what they are doing is illegal.
