Following two rounds of testing administered to some of the students who are due to take up residence at public school dormitories, eight students have tested positive for COVID-19, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand confirmed yesterday.
The discovery of the new cases comes as some 5,000 students are expected to be tested for the virus as they will be staying in dorms across Guyana to resume in-class learning. “We tested the first batch of students upon entry into the school. From the first batch, four of those children are positive. That was a batch that came from a specific community. Today, we received results again for the wider population of students that came from all over the country and four more were tested positive,” Manickchand said during a virtual press conference.
The ministry was last month given the greenlight to reopen schools for grades 10, 11 and 12, and those attending Practical Instruction Centres (PICs) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
The students who stay at dorms are being tested, with the consent of their parents, before they are allowed to return to their classrooms, Manickchand said. “If we are to test all the students coming back in, we will find positive cases, given the large number. Science and medicine across the world say that generally, in children, young adults, the symptoms are very mild if any are detected at all. From across the country, regions 1 to 10, for all the dorms the students will be tested because it makes sense to test [them]. In dorms students interact a little more with each other,” Manickchand explained.
She said that the Ministry of Health intervenes in the event of students testing positive, as seen over the past two days. The students can either isolate at home or go into institutional care. The testing was done in this manner so as to be aware of where the students are at the time of their learning their status, Manickchand said, before adding that this was advised by the Health Ministry. Tests are being done at dorm schools and then students are
quarantined after testing, therefore the ministries can ensure students aren’t contracting the virus after testing is done.
In an effort to stem infections and the spread of the virus, the ministry has set out to hold meetings with parents to ask that the non-resident students become resident students where there is space. Manickchand said that parents were also given the option to have their children stay home if they aren’t comfortable with them returning or even have them transfer to catchment area schools.
Manickchand said that these options would be supported by the ministry and that the ministry only asks that students who choose to stay home reach out and make contact so as to be informed how to continue studies. Manickchand also asked that the parents help with setting up an environment that is suitable for students to be able to study while at home.
Reminding that the Ministry of Education intends to meet the goals of ensuring that students can be safely educated amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Manickchand said that many consultations between the ministry and teachers and parents were done within the last few weeks and that the decisions that followed were in accordance with the suggestions and recommendations received during the meetings. This decision was also made because the ministry does not want the young people to suffer from learning loss, dropouts, or having this cohort affected economically.
Manickchand informed that while all the data was not available to her, up to press time the ministry was aware that 60% (some 12,600) of the students in grades 10 and 11 from five of the 10 administrative regions turned out to school, while there was an almost 100% attendance by teachers for these grades. This was no surprise, Manickchand said, as she noted that many teachers have been doing their part even before the Ministry stepped in.
Additionally, senior officers, members of the Cabinet and other officials went to the schools to observe the return and whether there was adherence to instructions.
