Hiccup - Reservations against full school roll-out as three withdraw from two-week pilot

WESTERN BUREAU:

Two major teachers’ organisations are guardedly waiting to see how the two-week pilot for the resumption of face-to-face classes will unfold after an eleventh-hour substitution of three schools marked yet another bump in the Holness administration’s bid to normalise learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Jasford Gabriel cautioned that the reopening of 17 schools, starting November 9, is a microcosm of the education sector that cannot be used as a template for broad engagement of hundreds of thousands of students forced to learn from home since March.

“I do not think we can definitively say that we will gather sufficient information from this exercise to be able to open more schools,” Gabriel told The Gleaner on Wednesday.

“I think it will be more likely be gathered by the public-health analysis of the whole situation because this is just one per cent of all the schools, and these schools are located in low-risk areas, and some of them are in deep-rural parts,” said Gabriel.

His reservations linger as the Ministry of Education announced on Wednesday that three, or 18 per cent of the 17, institutions that would swing open their doors next Monday had opted out of the pilot even though the authorities had said that its strategy was based on analysis of demographic data and geoinformatics from a coronavirus vulnerability index.

But it appears that the absence of consultation with principals and other community stakeholders opened up cracks that may have been evident had more engagement been effected.

The three withdrawals have come from Troy High and Albert Town High in Trelawny, and Tranquility Primary and Infant School in Portland.

The education ministry issued a cryptic missive that the schools would not be able to have all systems in place in time for the start of the pilot.

But attempts by The Gleaner to elicit more information from the school administrations were met with resistance, with two headmasters declining to offer details on why they opted out of the pilot.

Principal of Troy High, Eddie White, said that the school was optimistic about resuming in-person classes but acknowledged only that “there are some variables beyond our control”.

Pressed for more, White said that “we would gladly have reopened” and “that is all I am prepared to say on the matter”.

Dwayne Edwards, principal of Albert Town High, said that he “just had discussions with the ministry, and we came to the decision that at this time, it’s best that we not be a part of the pilot. There’s nothing else other than that. There’s nothing else to report,” he told The Gleaner.

Both Edwards and White declined comment on whether the ministry had done sufficient due diligence on the reopening of the schools.

The rejig by the education ministry follows comments of concern by some school principals, including Mark Malabver of Yallahs High, who told The Gleaner that the process was “untidy”. He was miffed at not being consulted before correspondence detailing the original selected schools was leaked to the media.

Questions to Robert Morgan, state minister of education, went unanswered up to press time Wednesday night.

Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPPS) President Linvern Wright has recommended that special focus be given to students who are preparing to sit external examinations.

“We are willing to phase in our students who are going to sit examinations if the risks are low enough to allow it because they are the ones who are most in need of any kind of face-to-face, especially for school-based assessments, practical work, and labs now.

“ ... Schools will be prepared to roll out, but only on a limited basis. Nobody is really looking forward to a whole-school roll-out.”

In September, both organisations voiced opposition to a proposal for the resumption of face-to-face classes when the school term was scheduled to start on October 5 as a second, more deadly, wave of COVID-19 swept the country.

But that stance appeared to melt as coronavirus fatigue linked to Internet connectivity and computer accessibility woes undermined learning for up to 400,000 students islandwide.

On October 28, Education Minister Fayval Williams announced that 12 primary schools and five secondary schools across nine parishes would undergo the November pilot project, with protocols for COVID management to be strictly enforced at the institutions.

Final list of schools for face-to-face pilot:

 

1. Yallahs High School, St Thomas

2. Steer Town Primary and Junior High School, St Ann

3. Somerton All-Age and Infant School, St James

4. Newcombe Valley Primary School, St Elizabeth

5. Morgan’s Forest Primary and Infant, Clarendon

6. Mile Gully Primary School, Manchester

7. Kemps Hill High School, Clarendon

8. Garlogie Primary and Junior High, Clarendon

9. Chatsworth Primary and Infant School, St James

10. Chantilly Primary School, Westmoreland

11. Bethlehem All-Age and Infant School, St. Elizabeth

12. Ballards Valley Primary School, St Elizabeth

13. Alston High School, Clarendon

14. Moore Town Primary & Junior High School, Portland

15. Chalky Hill All-Age, St Ann

16. Devon Primary, Manchester

17. Moneague Primary and Junior High, St Ann