Ugandan schools have been closed for over 77 weeks. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 48 countries have experienced an education emergency. Virtual learning was unavailable, so schooling has been suspended since March of 2020. Of the 48 countries, COVID has struck Uganda’s education system the hardest.

Uganda is the only African country where schools are still shut down. Only 700,000 of Uganda’s 44 million people are vaccinated: a meager 1.75 percent. Many Ugandan students said they will not go back to school when it reopens because they have lost too much knowledge to recover. Several Ugandan students have taken up gold mining during their break from school, and they often work alongside former teachers. 

Uganda experienced a spike in COVID cases in August, and cases have averaged 70 a week since then. Currently, the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni is loosening restriction policies due to a decline in cases. Over the course of the pandemic, Uganda has had 122,000 confirmed cases of COVID.