'Untidy'... Yallahs principal in the dark after school selected for face-to-face pilot

Principal of the Yallahs High School in St Thomas, Mark Malabver has described as untidy the government’s approach to the pilot programme for the resumption of face-to-face classes.

The school is among 16 in nine parishes that the Education Ministry named on Sunday for the two-week pilot programme set to begin on Monday, November 9.

However, Malabver said he remained in the dark, as, up to Monday, he had not been contacted by the ministry about the involvement of his school.

He said he only became aware after the ministry published the list of selected schools on Sunday.

"It is very untidy and raises all sorts of issues as there are things that we would have had to deal with prior to this," he told The Gleaner.

At a press conference last week Wednesday at which the pilot programme was announced, Education Minister Fayval Williams said it was too early to name the schools as the ministry first had to have consultations with them. 

Meanwhile, Malabver said, although he is pleased that his school was selected for the pilot, he would want to see the data that helped to guide the decision.

"The truth is, we are only reaching no more than about 40 per cent of the student population via the Internet and online classes. I’m sure parents would be happy too but there are many issues that we would have had to work through to reach the point of opening school," he said. 

He said it is critical that all the issues to settled to make the pilot successful.

"What models are going to be used? Will it be a shift model? Will upper school come in for some days and lower on the others? I am totally in the dark,” he said.

Malabver also said he would have liked to have meet with the various stakeholders by now order to prepare them for the proposed start of the pilot.

“It’s not just the ministry and the school’s administration that are involved. What about the parents, the teachers, the schools board? We should have been called into a meeting a long time ago if the 9th is going to be a reality and I’m not sure it will be given the plans that need to be put in place," he said.

At the same time, the Yallahs principal said there will also be a psychosocial component, as the programme will require a shift in the mindset of staff, students and parents.

- Shanna Monteith

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