SCHOOL REOPENING: First Lady Janet Museveni Begs Bank Bosses on Loans

Education and sports minister, also first lady Janet Kataaha Museveni, has appealed to commercial banks to restructure loans they had extended to education institutions until such a time when schools have financially recovered.

Schools have been closed to since March 2020 over the Covid19 pandemic.

In his recent address on his government’s Covid19 response, President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni made it clear schools would be reopened in January 2022.

But some schools are so financially stressed that they may not reopen next year. Others have been sold off, according to media reports.

Yet more education institutions are still struggling to pay bank loans after lockdowns put their revenue streams to an end.

Days ago, education minister Janet Museveni met commercial bank bosses to convince them to restructure credit facilities extended to schools.

The first lady appealed to the banks to push loan clearance to the future.

“I recently met with representatives of the Uganda Bankers Association to discuss how we can support proprietors of private education institutions over non-performing loans and to agree on some interventions,” said Janet Museveni.

“My appeal to the banks in Uganda is to consider halting the repayment of loans by schools until they are operational again and can generate income that will enable them to pay back the outstanding loans.”