Punctuality a major hurdle with full reopening of schools

WESTERN BUREAU

Dr Michelle Pinnock, Region Four director at the Ministry of Education and Youth, says outside of punctuality issues, it was a smooth return of full face-to-face classes for both students and school administrators in St James, Hanover and Westmoreland on Monday.

Schools were removed from face-to-face classes in March 2020 as part of the measures used by the Government to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. But according to Pinnock, Monday’s resumption saw 85 per cent, or 140, of the 165 schools in the region opening their doors with their full cohorts.

Nine of the 11 infant schools in the region were among those schools who had face-to-face classes. However, Pinnock said primary-school students had a good turnout where 91 per cent, or 121, of the 129 primary schools in Region Four opened with their full cohort. Among the 25 secondary schools, 15 of them were open, while the others continue to operate with a blended approach, using face-to-face and online modalities.

“The day went well. Our biggest issue was really punctuality, as a results of matters relating to transportation,” Pinnock told The Gleaner. “We received good support from our parents, who came out as volunteers.

“We are working to ensure that single-desk furniture are in place for our students .. our parents have been very supportive, as a number of them came out to volunteer.”

Monday’s resumption of full in-person teaching and learning comes after two years of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and an order by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, citing the low health risk of the COVID-19 virus infection among children.

Paul Adams, principal of Herbert Morrison Technical High School (HMTHS), said the process at his school was smooth.

“For us, it was a matter of returning to normality It’s not a resumption for us because we were always operating face-to-face and online, using our blended approach,” he said in a Gleaner interview on Monday.

“In the first week of January, we would have three days for grades seven to nine; and in that same week, the other two days was for students in grades 10 to 13, and then they were rotated, meaning, in week two, grades 10 to 13 would get three days face-to-face (tuition), and grades seven to nine two days,” Adams explained. “On the days when students were not required to attend face-to-face classes, they were facilitated online.

“The only difference for us today is that all of them came back at the same time for face-to-face class, so we are back to normalcy,” Adams said.

The HMTHS principal noted that the students have been cooperating extremely well with their teachers and other staff members, and that the practice of “sanitisation and temperature checks are now normal and routine activities”.

A LITTLE REMINDER

“They will get over it, even after they graduate. It’s no longer a COVID-19 protocol only,” Adams shared. “All that it will take now is a little reminder to keep on their masks outside of the regular mask breaks.”

With a student population of 1,028, Michael Williams, vice-principal at Anchovy Primary School, said 85 per cent of his students turned out for the first full resumption of face-to-face classes.

“The fact that we were operating with a blended approach, having our students back in full face-to-face lessons, it was sort of smooth for this morning, no more than the usual hectic activities, getting the students in and sticking to the protocols,” he said.

Williams told The Gleaner that full support from his teachers played a significant part and that things fell into place nicely, so that the business of teaching and learning could take place.