All schools including postgraduate and diploma programs to start delivering all courses online by 31 August, 2020. Photo: John Akech/Facebook.

The University of Juba is set to start providing online lessons next month to ensure students continue learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

The plan was unveiled during a meeting between the University administration and the government in Juba yesterday.

In March, President Salva Kiir ordered the closure of schools and other institutions of learning as part of Coronavirus preventive measures.

However, VC Professor John Akec says the University Senate agreed to start online lessons to keep the students learning as Covid-19 continues to pose uncertainty to normal operations of schools.

He added that they will also develop a university app that will support the students to access information.

“This is the plan we discussed yesterday, we said we need to deliver teaching to people online and people can download lectures, they can use YouTube and we are using different technologies to do that,” Prof Akech told Eye Radio on Saturday.

“It’s like distance learning but more integrated technology and so we have done, audit about our infrastructure and about our own capability and we are going to develop that capacity. It’s like distance learning but its more intense and it covers everybody.”

Prof. John Akec however called on students to equip themselves with the relevant technical skills to enable them to cope up with the situation.

According to the University of Juba, all schools including postgraduate and diploma programs will start delivering all courses online by 31 August 2020.

Diploma students will be given only take-home exams with a weight of 40% and assignments and mid-term tests to account for 60%.