One wonders how the December 31 will be celebrated. Will folks be happy that this abnormal year has finally ended? Will the financial strain Covid-19 brought allow us to ululate from houses? Only time will tell.
Two months into 2020, everything looked good, but come March, we learnt of the first confirmed coronavirus case in Uganda.
The impact of this confirmation started to bite when President Museveni announced on March 20 that all institutions of learning should be closed. With just a few of their belongings, students were abruptly sent home.
In Kenya, students read books, teachers sent work, and checked on their students until the country declared a dead year. It came to the minds of many Ugandans that the same could happen to our country.
Whereas other businesses and programmes are slowly resuming operations , the education sector is yet to be opened. Yes, churches are also still closed, although many of them continue to receive tithe and offertory.
With no exams given or done, and zero attendance for the second term, and no certainty regarding the third term, the President in one of his addresses to the nation on Covid-19, the President said we wait until September when he will let us know if learners will be allowed to go back to school or not.
However, media reports say teachers are finding alternative ways of making ends meet to cater for their families. Some bodaboda riders even wanted to start hiring private school teachers to take records of passengers they transport as per the required SOPs.
Between the demanding landlord and the never ticked off items from your target list for 2020, it may feel wise to instead venture into that lucrative business that your friend has been talking about.
Today, many teachers who have ventured into other businesses vowing never to return to class, a development which is not good for the country.
Currently, the teacher to student ratio may worsen. The best institutions around the world have five students per teacher to ensure that maximum attention is given to each student. The Ministry of Health advises having 10 students for primary and secondary in a standard classroom and 15 for higher institutions of learning.
However, with many teachers finding other means of living outside school, it means that the few teachers who will resume teaching will have to do a lot more work than before or even work in shifts in order to cover all students in the multiple streams that will be created.