KAMPALA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Uganda is set to resume the recruitment of secondary school teachers as the country prepares to reopen schools after close to a year of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

File Photo: Xinhua

Education Service Commission said in a statement issued here on Wednesday that the recruitment process of 3,096 teachers will start on Feb. 22.

The statement said the exercise was halted last year due to COVID-19 lock down restrictions.

The teachers will be deployed in 100 schools across the east African country.

The commission warned that there would be zero tolerance to corruption in the recruitment process.

"Anyone caught engaging in any corruption-related activities will face the full wrath of the law," the commission said.

The recruitment exercise comes as the country is set to reopen schools and higher education institutions on March 1 with strict adherence to COVID-19 prevention measures.

Government on Feb. 4 announced that first schools will reopen for 1.7 million semi-candidate class learners and all tertiary and university students in a phased manner. The rest of the classes will then reopen depending on the assessment of the progress of the pandemic.

In March last year, the country closed all schools and education institutions to curb the spread of COVID-19. On Oct. 15, Uganda reopened schools for about 1.3 million candidates and tertiary and university finalists to complete their studies.

As of Feb. 15, the country had registered 40,089 cases of COVID-19, with 14,545 recoveries and 331 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.