FAKE: The Daily Monitor did not publish this article about changes in school reopening dates
This image, shared on TikTok, purportedly of a Daily Monitor newspaper cover with an article reporting on school reopening dates, is FAKE.
The article claims that Education Minister Janet Museveni postponed the reopening of schools from 14 September 2026 to 21 September 2026 to allow students enough rest. According to the article, which features a photo of Janet, the minister made the announcement at a press conference held in Nakasero.
However, the purported cover does not include the month in the publication date, raising suspicion about its authenticity.
Another red flag is that although the minister was reappointed to the same position when her husband, President Yoweri Museveni, released the new list of cabinet ministers, she has been ill and away from office. In her absence, State Minister for Higher Education Chrysostom Muyingo has been performing her duties. A Google reverse image search shows that the image of Janet featured on the newspaper cover is old. State House published it on its website on 12 July 2024.
According to the school calendar released by the Ministry of Education and Sports in January 2026, the third term began on 14 September 2026.
To further verify the claim, PesaCheck reviewed the ministry’s official X (formerly Twitter) account and found a post confirming that the third term reopening date remains 14 September 2026.
PesaCheck also contacted Mercy Nalugo, an editor at Daily Monitor, who said the publication did not publish the purported story.
“It's clearly fake,” Nalugo responded in a WhatsApp message.
The genuine Daily Monitor newspaper cover published on 8 September 2026 had a different lead story and image.
PesaCheck looked into an image shared on TikTok, purportedly of a Daily Monitor newspaper cover with an article reporting on school reopening dates, and found it to be FAKE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here's more information on PesaCheck's methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Flavia Nassaka and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Mary Mutisya and chief copy editor Stephen Ndegwa.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent's largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.