‘Teachers ready for classrooms but in a safe environment’

Most teachers in Barbados are eager to return to the classroom but are not prepared to do so unless it is safe for them and the children, said Acting President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Rudy Lovell on Tuesday as the new school term began online.

He reported an “uneventful” resumption of classes, telling Barbados TODAY, that in the secondary school system, a lot of the time was spent on “recalibrating timetables” and having departmental meetings.

Tuesday marked the start of the Hilary (second) term of the 2021/2022 academic year for students, after a spike in COVID-19 cases forced the Ministry of Education to adjust its plan to have students get back to face-to-face classes.

The Ministry of Education has since proposed a January 24 start to the phased resumption of in-class teaching, but that is subject to change based on the advice from public health officials regarding the island’s COVID-19 situation.

Lovell told Barbados TODAY while teachers were in favour of returning to the physical classrooms, it would depend on the containment of the spread of the more transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19.

“We don’t know if that date will stand. That is subject to the dictates of the Ministry of Health who guides the Ministry of Education,” he said,

“The BUT is in support of the decision taken by the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training to postpone face-to-face classes until it is safe to do so.”

Projections by the University of the West Indies are that in the worst-case scenario, the daily number of new COVID-19 cases could reach as high as 3,500.

“It must also be noted that when the decision was made to postpone face-to-face classes, it was done when we had one known case of the Omicron case on island. However, we are now hearing of community spread, which means that if we postpone school for one case we would imagine that a similar thing would happen for community spread,” Lovell said.

“Not that we don’t want to go back to school. We do want to go back to school, but when it is safe to do so.”

Urging teachers, parents and students to continue to follow the established protocols, the BUT official said “hopefully, that can help us get back into the classrooms as soon as possible”.

Lovell said he was hoping to have a meeting with Ministry of Education officials shortly after the January 19 general elections to discuss the intended phased return to the classroom.

The BUT is also expected to meet with its more than 2,000 members to hear their views on the matter.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb