As the new semester for the Academic Year of 2016/2017 began on Monday, for a better part of the day Makerere University remained quiet.
After closure of Makerere in November last year, the University has been operating on an abnormal schedule, which saw students receive only one week of a holiday.
With most roads at the country's oldest campus looking deserted, there were a handful of students at the various colleges and there seemed no activity going on.
The university reopened on January 2, 2017 to allow for students to complete semester one. The first semester of the academic year ended on February 20 and students and staff were given a one week break.
As per the university academic registrar's communication last week, all students were supposed to have reported back on January 26 and lectures were to begin effective today.
While timetables were available in some departments, there was no activity and no sign of students learning.
At the School of Law, semester two timetable was available on the various notice boards as early as February 23. However, lecture rooms were empty while a handful of students were seen around with hopes of lecturers showing up but in vain.
In the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), there was no activity at all. However, a few students could be seen reading notices on notice boards in hope of getting the new semester timetables.
Alfred Namoah Masikye, the university academic registrar said that he expects lectures to have begun teaching today. He was confident that the university was running normally and that lectures had immediately commenced