The new school term will resume as planned next week despite concerns about a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, Minister of Education Kay McConney announced Thursday as she indicated a hybrid format of face-to-face and online teaching will be used.
McConney said the Trinity term, the final term of the 2021-2022 school year, will commence on Monday, April 25 for teachers and Tuesday, April 26 for students, although not all will return to the classrooms just yet.
The decision follows advice from the Ministry of Health and Wellness which, according to Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Anton Best, recommended that with the COVID-19 case fatality rate among the lowest in the world, schools should remain open.
At a press conference on Thursday, Dr Best insisted that COVID protocols in schools have been working, although he disclosed there were 1 600 COVID-19 cases among students between the ages of three and 18 during the last term which ran from February 21 to April 8.
He said the rate of infection was slightly higher in primary schools, with 17 of every 1 000 students at that level testing positive.
“Unfortunately, we do not collect data to look at the numbers of children and the symptoms that they have, whether they are asymptomatic or whether they do have symptoms that are mild. Our experience is that the vast majority of children have had mild symptoms and usually it is the mild symptoms that they bring to the attention of their parents or their guardians and that is when they are tested for COVID and diagnosed with COVID,” he said.
“What I can also tell you is that we have not been seeing any severe cases of COVID amongst that population in Barbados, and certainly we have not been seeing any deaths in recent times.”
Dr Best further disclosed that there were COVID-19 cases among staff at schools but the numbers were not alarming.
He added that the positivity rate in schools was similar to what was being seen in the wider community.
“The roadmap that we have developed, the roadmap that we are implementing with all of our partners is protecting not only the staff but is protecting the students and it is helping keep the rates as low as possible in the communities. The roadmap that I am referring to is the roadmap for the resumption of face-to-face learning,” Dr Best said.
The latest statistics provided by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory show 547 new COVID-19 cases from 1,645 tests conducted on Wednesday.
During Thursday’s press conference, the Education Minister indicated that students will be required to wear full uniform when they go to school, but not all will be able to return to face-to-face classes on April 26, due to capacity constraints.
She said instructions on how individual schools will operate will be communicated to parents in correspondence from principals.
McConney said that until either the Ministry of Health is given the green light from the Ministry of Health to remove the three-feet physical distancing rule or more space becomes available to accommodate students, the blended approach to teaching will continue.
“Believe me, I understand that we all want to be able to get every child back into school. Our Ministry is with you on this. Our Ministry of Health and Wellness, our health partner, is on board with this.
“We have to be able to take a stepped approach that works for Barbados, and until the three-feet distance is no longer a part of that, or we are able to acquire additional space, then we will have to continue with the blended approach. We are certainly going to ensure that our work with the Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to make this come sooner,” she said.
The Education Minister said learning support systems will be put in place for students sitting major examinations, including the Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (BSSEE) and Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC).
Extra-curricular activities will be allowed to continue, following the same COVID-19 protocols as before, she added.
Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, also addressing Thursday’s press conference, said the continuation of face-to-face classes was important to stop students from falling behind in their studies, and also emotionally and socially.
She urged parents to check their children’s schedules to ensure they showed up for school on the days that they are supposed to.
Archer-Bradshaw made the appeal against the background of situations last term when some parents sent their children to school every day, even though they knew they were only required to attend physical school three times per week.
The education chief said such behaviour had put undue stress and pressure on teachers and the schools’ management who were forced to find additional space.
Offering parents some more advice, Archer-Bradshaw said: “Last term, we found there were some parents who sent the children to school with only one mask – the mask that they were wearing. Parents, make sure that your children have at least three masks, just in case the one they are wearing drops or something happens to it they have additional masks. The next thing that we realised [was that] some parents were sending children to school sick. And I am so happy that we have very vigilant monitors and vigilant teachers and support staff who could say ‘well you know what, something is wrong here, let us isolate’.
“But parents, you don’t want to give them that stress either. Help us to help you. Check your children before they leave home. If you know that they are sick, please do not send them to school. If you don’t know if they have COVID, take them to get tested and I am sure that the medical officers of health will give the advice that is needed to ensure that the children bounce back and are ready to come back to school,” Dr Archer-Bradshaw said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb
