Care packages have been sent to the ten administrative regions to be distributed to teachers and students as the Ministry of Education (MoE) finalises its preparations for the re-opening of schools next week.
As part of its efforts to ensure teachers and students are safe as they return to schools as of Monday, the MoE has prepared care packages which contain face masks, face shields, sanitisers, vitamins and tape (to enforce social distancing), for distribution starting Monday. School vouchers valued at $4,000 each, were also printed earlier this week and will be made available for parents to collect.
Last Saturday the Minis-ter of Education, Priya Manickchand, announced that schools would be reopening for the students in grades 10, 11, 12 and all Practical Instruction Centres (PICs) and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Centres. She said that this was a cabinet decision and comes as part of the preparations for when the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) announces its plans for the regional examinations it administers. Manickchand also disclosed that the Ministry is still awaiting word from CXC about the official top performances for the 2020 exams and after that is announced, the MoE will make decisions concerning the sanctioning of teachers.
As face-to-face schooling resumes, the MoE is expecting that adjustments may need to be made to the school term and an extended school week might be added. This includes rotations of students and teachers as is needed. To ensure safety as persons return to school, a number of instructions have been transmitted to schools. The ministry has also engaged with representatives of the Guyana Police Force Traffic Department, the President of the United Minibus Union, the Route 42 United Minibus Society, the Route 44 United Minibus Society, the Director of the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, to ensure that transportation used by the students will have guidelines that are to be followed for their safety while travelling. Monitoring of the bus park will be performed by the police to ensure students do not linger, while buses are expected to meet a certain criteria which the police will enforce in order to transport students. Buses that are transporting school children will have to be provided with sanitisers and thermometers and if these buses are not deemed fit by the police, they will not be allowed to transport students, the Ministry’s Chief Education Officer, Dr Marcel Hutson told reporters.
Efforts to academically engage students started since September and was done by utilising the Guyana Learning Channel and radio with a daily schedule which is in accordance with the curriculum. Online teaching through the use of platforms, like Zoom and Google Class-room, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, and WebEx, to name a few, along with the use of worksheets prepared by the ministry and distributed to students, is also being used in an attempt to continue educating learners. Teachers of the grades which will not be returning to school are encouraged to continue using these platforms.
