Saturday, December 6

Uganda

www.theexchange.africa

The programme runs for the 3-6 months between secondary school completion and the beginning of university.

It also offers the Global Summer Internship Programme, which allows scholars studying at international universities to return to Africa for their summer holidays and intern with Equity Group and its partners, giving them work experience and building their professional networks on the continent.

Others include the College Counselling Programme, which supports Equity scholars to access admission and scholarships to some of the world’s leading universities, including the Ivy League universities in the US.

Statistically, Uganda appears to have been relatively untouched by the pandemic in terms of infections and deaths but unhappily holds the unenviable world record of being the country that closed its schools for the longest time.

The consequences of this in terms of mental health, teenage pregnancy, child labour and school dropout rates is likely to have a negative effect on my adopted country for many years to come. School closure also emphasised the uncertainty factor.

President Museveni and his Health Minister have recently declared that not even Omicron will delay the reopening of the economy any longer and that Uganda will be fully open for business with the aim of rebuilding the economy from January 2022 onwards.