The Ministry of Education is considering promoting students in non-candidate classes, should the reopening of schools for non-finalists fail in this academic year, the Director, Basic and Secondary Education, Ismail Mulindwa has said.
Mulindwa made the remarks while meeting members of parliament on the Education Committee on Tuesday.
The ministry also released a new school calendar which will spill over into next year, confirming that schools will start on October 15th for second term.
According Mulindwa, since schools for none-candidates are still closed, the second phase of learning materials that are yet to be distributed will help learners complete the syllabus, something that will see them promoted to other classes.
He said the ministry was set to roll out the enhanced home-study programme for effective learning for other learners that can lead to promotion to the next class in case the situation does not warrant reopening for all.
Therefore, non-candidates will have to wait till next year.
The Third Term, according to the new calendar will begin mid-January and end in April.
The government is having a plan to provide at least 10 million radio sets to every household and 137,466 solar-powered television sets to villages in Uganda as the country awaits guidelines for holding the 2021 General Election.
An emergency cabinet meeting few months ago weighed options before re-opening schools as they discussed a report of the Education committee on virtual learning.
The meeting resolved to keep all schools shut but virtual learning must continue as government monitors the COVID-19 curve.
In the meeting, Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa asked President Museveni to announce a dead year for all educational institutions as a drastic measure to keep learners safe.
The suggestion was rejected by some ministers