Yesterday was a relieving moment for students and parents in Uganda as the country decided to end the world’s longest school shutdown, resuming classes for millions of children after eighty-three weeks of closure.

Since March 2020, when classes were closed as a result of COVID-19, around 15 million Ugandan students have not attended school.

Education Minister John Muyingo said all students would automatically resume classes a year above where they left off.

“All schools have implemented guidelines and standard operating procedures to ensure the safe return of children to schools,” he told the AFP news agency. “Measures have been put in place to ensure those who do not comply do so.”

Any private schools charging tuition beyond pre-pandemic levels, according to Muyingo, will be sanctioned.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni lifted the bulk of COVID-19-related restrictions in the country in September last year, but he left schools shuttered.

He announced in October last year that schools would reopen early next year regardless of the vaccination uptake, which is currently low.

The rush to return children to school clogged traffic in the capital Kampala on Monday.