Local News Schools getting prepped Anesta Henry27/05/20200197 views The cleaning and sanitizing of primary and secondary schools commenced last week as some students prepare to return to the classroom in a matter of weeks. Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson said the ministry’s Technical Management Unit is monitoring the cleaning process which is necessary in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have persons cutting the grass; we have persons power washing corridors. We anticipate that by the 15th of June the schools will be up and running. “At the secondary schools they have escalated the areas where they will be using for the practicals and which the students will be occupying as well. The cleaning has started and it will be an ongoing process,” Adamson said. A few weeks ago, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw announced that the new date for the 2020 Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination (BSSEE) was Tuesday, July 14. The examination was postponed from its original date of Tuesday, May 5 because of the uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Bradshaw said that all Class 4 students will return to the classroom from Monday, June 15 to allow for face-to-face contact with teachers in preparation for the annual examination. She also indicated that CXC students who are yet to complete School Based Assessments (SBAs) will also be given the opportunity to return to the school setting to finish their mandatory projects which must be graded and marks put towards the final examinations. Meanwhile, Adamson assured that janitors assigned to schools will be equipped with the necessary personal protective equipment needed to combat the spread of the virus. “The thing about it is that janitors will be working mainly by themselves and not in groups. So only this morning I was speaking to a principal where they have made sure that they do have the gloves and wherever possible if they are required, masks. But most persons have their own mask. We are ordering that stuff [safety gear], so by the time the students are in [school] everybody should be equipped,” Adamson explained.