Broomes has doubts about school restart date

Veteran educator Jeff Broomes has suggested that it will not be possible for students to return to the classrooms on September 21 as the Ministry of Education has announced.

On the weekend, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw informed the nation that the 2020-2021 school year would begin on that date and run until December 11, with a “blended” approach that will include online and face-to-face classes, in a COVID-19 environment.

However, Broomes told Barbados TODAY that with all the changes and adjustments needed to ensure safe and secure school plants, he believes it is impossible for teaching to start on that date.

“There is a need for lots of planning and lots of cleansing, and I do not see schools opening until like the second week in October. I don’t think children will be ready for school on September 21, but I think teachers should be ready because they have to do a lot of planning, which is going to be very important,” he said.

“The first two to three weeks is going to be all about teacher planning and preparation. In preparing for the type of challenges that we are going to have, there must be a lot of planning.”

Broomes added that it would be important for schools to make timetable adjustments to meet the new realities and challenges, and worksheets should be developed to assist with home learning.

“I think a lot more planning needs to go on and whatever decisions we make the paramount thing must be safety for children, safety for teachers, safety on the school compound and safety on the public transportation and where children will gather on the streets.

“Classes have to be split in half to have the distancing taking place, and I am talking about secondary schools right now. I also believe that we cannot have a system where we have break or lunch at the school compound because that would involve mass gatherings. They have to make sure there is no mass gathering in town and we need attendant officers to make sure the children get to school and get home and not hang out,” the former secondary school principal said.

Broomes further suggested that the introduction of alternate teaching, which would entail children going to the school property on different days of the week, be seriously considered.

He noted that secondary schools should start at 8:30 a.m. but not go beyond 12:30 p.m., allowing for at least five to six teaching periods.

In addition, the educator said that students in junior school should be dismissed around 11:50 a.m. following five lessons, while senior students should leave at 12:30 p.m. to allow for distancing on and off the school properties.

“Now, for the primary schools, I think students in nursery and Infants A should end school at 10:30 a.m. and the rest of the school at 11:50 a.m. Children have to wear masks, but these little children are not going to want to wear masks, so you don’t want to keep them in school for so long. And teachers shouldn’t also be wearing masks, they should be wearing face shields as well,” he said.

While he fully supports online teaching, Broomes noted that there were children living in homes with no electricity, and this is an issue which the Ministry of Education must look into even as they distribute electronic devices to students.

“These are students that should be accommodated at school earlier than others. They can use the school facilities for that purpose, and this is where all the planning with the unions, the Ministry, and the Parent-Teacher Associations had to be going on at this point,” Broomes said. (AH)