The Higher Education Council (HEC) of Rwanda, a regulatory body in all higher learning institutions in the East African country on Wednesday requested all higher learning institutions to stop evening programmes until further notice amid COVID-19 surge.
The Director General of the Rwandan Government institution Dr Rose Mukankomeje attributed the changes to a recent cabinet meeting that among others, resolved curfew hours to begin at 9:00 pm through 4:00 am, as it intensified efforts to contain the recent surge in new Covid-19 infections.
“This is done in order to comply with the last Cabinet decision towards protecting all of us from Covid-19. We are asking Higher Learning Institutions to look at other ways to deliver evening classes such as during the weekend or even online.” the official statement said.
She said that Universities have been asked to give their feedback on the decision.
“In order to work towards quality of education, we want students to cover all courses but also avoid Covid-19 infection,” said Mukankomeje adding, “We don’t want cases where students will be saying that they partially covered certain courses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Rwandan Cabinet chaired by President Kagame earlier this week issued fresh and strict guidelines to slow the spread of new Covid-19 infections.
According to the communique from the Prime Minister’s Office, all social gatherings including wedding ceremonies and celebrations of all kinds are from now on prohibited in both public and private settings.
Also banned are gyms and swimming pools, apart from those in hotels which can be used by only tested hotel residents.
Other major changes from the meeting include reducing the maximum number of people who attend meetings and conferences from 50 percent of the venue capacity to 30 percent. Additionally, all participants will be required to undergo Covid-19 testing.
Meanwhile, the government resolved that offices of public and public institutions will operate from 30 percent of their capacity, urging other employees to work from home.
CU/abj/APA