Use school closure to build out new-look classrooms – Skeffery
Published:Friday | June 5, 2020 | 12:26 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
Opposition Senator Wensworth Skeffery is urging the Ministry of Education to make the most of the suspension of physical classes and the summer holidays to have schools ready to reopen in September within a new normal ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As he addressed a special sitting of the Senate yesterday, Skeffery urged the Government to use the period to review its inventory and build out new infrastructure as it settles on what the COVID-19-reshaped classrooms will look like.
“Many of these schools have chairs welded together. They hardly can be moved and there is little or no space between each. There is no space available for physical distancing,” he told the Senate. “So if you going to replace some of those, you need new infrastructure, and let’s understand that even before COVID-19, many schools had a problem when it comes to furniture.”
Skeffery also called on the education ministry to provide more guidance counsellors in schools to help youngsters cope with the effects of the pandemic when the new school year begin on September 7.
MIXED SIGNALS AN ISSUE
Skeffery also criticised the ministry for what he called “mixed signals” from the Government on the matter of external exam dates, which caused unnecessary agitation for students.
“You cannot boldly announce you have struck a deal with CXC (Caribbean Examinations Council) to start exams July 27 and then with no announcement, ... [they send] out the timetable, and that’s when many students realise that they have gotten a six for a nine,” Skeffery said.
The education ministry had initially indicated that Jamaican candidates would not be joining regional counterparts in sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations in July. After dialogue with the Barbados-based CXC, Jamaican students were informed that the exams would begin on July 27, only to learn later that the date has been brought forward to July 13.