Photo by Jason Cross
– On again, off again.
Monday morning’s resumption of face-to-face classes for 17 schools has been washed out by an islandwide flash flood warning, dousing flickering hopes for normality since the coronavirus shuttered institutions in March.
The Ministry of Education’s late-evening announcement followed a weekend of heavy rains and presents yet another hiccup for the two-week pilot scheduled to begin today.
Jamaicans will know by Tuesday when the restart will kick in contingent on advice from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and the National Meteorological Service.
The pilot was scheduled to run from November 9 to 20 among 14 primary and three high schools in the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester, Portland, St Ann, St Elizabeth, St James, Westmoreland, and St Thomas.
Admittance to these institutions was being executed on a phased basis, with the older cohorts – eleventh-graders in the case of high schools and fifth- and sixth-graders for primary schools – getting first crack at in-person classes.
Yallahs High School in St Thomas is among the 17 schools selected. Its principal, Mark Malabver, was more optimistic than when he learned two Sundays ago of his school’s inclusion in the pilot. He said it was “all systems go”.
PREPARATION HAMPERED
Malabver said that up to Sunday, plans were on in earnest to have all in place given setbacks caused by inclement weather buffeting the eastern Jamaica parish for weeks.
“What we are doing is preparing as best as we can for the commencement of the pilot. Our preparation has been hampered somewhat because of the unstable weather conditions, but we are pressing along and will be ready,” Malabver told The Gleaner.
More than 100 students were expected for classes today, with the numbers expected to increase as the first week progresses.
“It’s a phased model, so all of this week into next week, the grade 11s will come in, and that’s what we are zeroing on particularly because they have CSEC exams in another six months’ time,” the principal said of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate regional exams.
Seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-graders will stream in later.
Malabver said that data analysis has shown that those students will receive less instruction via virtual lessons because they were in need of more academic support.
Manchester-based Devon Primary will initially welcome 30 students. Principal Nadine Nembhard disclosed that despite a few minor challenges, administrators will be ready to swing open the school gates
On Sunday, she said that enough space was available in the classrooms for mandatory six-foot social-distancing among pupils, adding that workmen were busy landscaping the grounds.
Signage and sanitisation stations are now in place for in-person classes, Nembhard said, adding that she expects a successful run of the experiment.
Emboldened by fatigue over online learning woes, the Holness administration has finally sealed buy-in from education stakeholders for a limited restart.
Teachers’ associations have, however, indicated that they would not support a whole-scale resumption of in-person classes at the end of the two-week pilot. (Jamaica Gleaner)
