Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has said public schools will continue using the blended approach to teaching students when they reopen in January.
On Thursday, the Education Ministry announced that schools will be closing on December 18 and reopening on January 4. Since September, schools have resumed classes through online teaching, and the use of worksheets. Since November, CXC-level students have been allowed to return to their physical classrooms.
During interviews with the media on Friday, Manickchand addressed concerns about whether the reopening of schools was a good idea. She reminded that the decision was not solely that of the ministry while noting that there have been some complications with persons testing positive upon their return, but she said there has been no “disaster”. “We have not seen any sort of disaster, so if anyone were to say it was a mistake, you’d have to show me some statistics about why you think it was a mistake,” she said during one of her interviews.
She then said that the education system is suffering a “shock” from the novel coronavirus pandemic which the country did not immediately respond to. She explained that the country was in a place of preserving the right to vote and democracy when the virus was detected, hence, professional work in the Ministries was paused.
Manickchand then went on to say that the children were left disengaged but since then her ministry has started working.
