Makerere University vice chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe has warned returning finalists "to pay tuition before you come" as they return to complete their academic programmes. A total of 11,000 final-year students are expected to report to Uganda's biggest and oldest university between October 3 and 17.
Nawangwe says no student will be allowed to sit for exams without paying all the tuition.
"All students who'd not paid tuition, the majority had finished paying but all those who haven't paid, please pay because, without payment, you won't sit exams. You've had 8 months of collecting fees, please pay that fees before you come." Nawangwe said.
All education institutions in the country were closed in March by President Yoweri Museveni as a preventive measure to stop the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The president also declared a total lockdown which has been gradually eased since July.
Meanwhile, five halls of residence in Makerere will remain closed to the finalists. The affected include Complex, Livingstone, Lumumba, Mitchell halls and off-campus Kabanyoro student's hostel. According to the university management, the returning students will be accommodated in designated halls on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Cyriaco Kabagembe, the dean of students Makerere University, says the decision was taken to ensure the security of students, management of resources and proper enforcement of the standard operating procedures.
The university will only accommodate 1,180 finalists who were residents in various halls. Female finalists will occupy Africa and Mary Stuart halls while their male counterparts will occupy Nkurumah, University, and Nsibirwa halls.
Medical students will remain at the Mulago-based Galloway hostel whereas graduate students will remain in Dag Hammarskjold. According to Kabagembe, each room in the selected halls will host a maximum of two students and where possible one student per room.
The university will provide allowances to non-resident government sponsored students, and according to Kabagambe, before the lockdown, the university had provided at least half of the Shs 760,000 for each government-sponsored students.
The returning students are expected to use the first few weeks to complete the work of the second semester that was disrupted by the lockdown. They will thereafter, sit their final examinations before the Christmas holidays.
Professor Umar Kakumba, the deputy vice-chancellor in charge of academic affairs, notes that they will move the other continuing students to the university's e-learning platform under the open, distance and e-learning programme that was recently approved by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).
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