By Maureen Nakatudde The first thing Roses Kirabo, 13, does when she wakes up is open her tablet computer. She opens various websites and gets absorbed in digital media. “She wants to be online all the time,” Mary Namuddu, her mother, says. “When I assign her work around the house, she is always hesitant to […]
By Andrew Masinde A path that leads to Namalu Mixed Primary School in Nakapiripirit district in Karamoja sub-region runs beside clusters of ramshackle houses. These decrepit structures inhabited by several families here are built close to one another, making this place near the school look like a refugee settlement. The place is filled with […]
By George Bita Ever since the first COVID-19 lockdown of March 2020, lower primary school teachers have not been teaching. According to Sr Winifred Nankya, the headteacher of St Francis Nakavule Nursery School in Iganga municipality, her staff of over 30 teachers have not been earning wages. “Their salary comes from parents’ contributions. We are […]
By Umar Nsubuga In November 2012, BRAC Uganda and the Mastercard Foundation embarked on an eight-year journey that would see over 5,000 young Ugandans benefit from a highly prestigious national level secondary scholarship programme. The scholarship programme was aimed at achieving positive social transformation through providing academically talented youth from economically marginalised backgrounds with access […]
By Martin Kitubi The Government has already drawn up a plan on how academic institutions will reopen, starting with higher institutions of learning, including universities. According to the plan, tertiary institutions will reopen in November starting with continuing first year students. Schools on the other hand, will re-open in January 2022 and that priority will […]
By Bob Kisiki My friend is a single father living with three teenagers and a pre-teen. The pre-teen is a boy so are the older two of the three teens. Only one of his children is a girl — and they do not see eye-to-eye. It had not always been like that, though. For the […]
By Prof. Mesharch Katusiimeh Your Excellency, managing the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been easy, but you have done very well under the circumstances. Your tireless efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda has been recognised at home and abroad. You decided ‘to err on the side of caution’ and […]
By Martin Kitubi WITH the likelihood that schools will reopen in January next year, a total of 4,339 private schools are likely to close due to prolonged lockdown, a National Planning Authority (NPA) report has revealed. Of these, 3,507 are primary, whereas 832 are secondary schools. These schools depend on tuition fees to run. Without […]
By Bob Kisiki I don’t know much about the various changes that have risen from the protracted coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged various spheres of society, but I know that we are experiencing things we had never dreamed of. Some of these are God-sent; many we wish had never happened, yet some carry a mix […]
By Bob Kisiki The truth is, life as we knew it up to February 2020, may never recur. Sad reality. Besides the fact that we do not have the slightest idea how much longer we have to contend with the rampaging coronavirus, we cannot assume that the world is seated under some shade, waiting for […]