Schools given Ebola SOPs ultimatum
CAPTION: A security guard takes a students body temperature from a student recently. (File photo).
By Our reporter
KAMPALA – The Ministry of Education and Sports has given schools a one-week grace period to fully implement Ebola Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) following fresh cases linked to the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, by Monday morning, many schools were still ill-prepared to fully comply with the required SOPs, with several lacking basic preventive measures such as handwashing facilities, temperature screening guns, isolation spaces, and other key requirements.
Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Sports, says schools have been given this week to ensure all Ebola prevention requirements are in place.
She explained that the outbreak emerged at the start of the school term, meaning some institutions are still mobilising resources and setting up the necessary facilities, prompting the ministry to allow a short grace period for compliance.
During Uganda’s 2022 Sudan virus Ebola outbreak, schools were forced to close two weeks earlier than scheduled after infections spread rapidly among learners through close contact and shared facilities.
According to the World Health Organization, children were among the most affected groups, accounting for about 25 percent of all confirmed cases during the outbreak. The virus was particularly deadly among young children, with reports indicating a case fatality rate of about 74 percent among children below the age of 10.
The Ministry of Health confirmed at least 23 Ebola cases among pupils during the outbreak, including eight child deaths. Most of the infections were reported in Kampala, Mubende, and Wakiso districts, stressing how quickly schools and urban centres became transmission hotspots once the virus entered learning institutions.
