Schools will reopen on September 6 for face-to-face teaching, the Ministry of Education reiterated yesterday as it urged parents to allow their children to be vaccinated with the Pfizer shots that are due to arrive in the country today and warned teachers to be inoculated or provide a weekly negative PCR test.
The ministry’s directive prompted the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) last night to withdraw with immediate effect from participating in the assessment of schools and other engagements with the ministry until the release is retracted.
The ministry yesterday issued two releases on the planned reopening of schools: one aimed at parents and their children and the other directed at teachers.
Contending that the majority of parents have been calling for schools to be reopened, the ministry said that it is “compelled to support this call because of what we are aware is happening to our students since the school doors were closed back in March (2020). We have seen our students suffer great learning loss and we have lost some of them from the sector who have essentially ‘dropped out’ of school. We have embarked on an ambitious exercise to find these students and bring them back into the formal education system”.
The ministry said that studies have also shown that the longer schools are closed, the greater the students will be affected. While schools were closed the release noted that the ministry implemented several initiatives to help students to remain engaged in learning at home including the printing of thousands of worksheets for each grade and the production of recorded lessons done by local teachers on the various topics outlined in the curriculum.
“However, despite these measures geared towards the continuity of learning, the fact remains that it was not enough and not as effective as face-to-face learning. Our students are suffering. Learning at home is not as effective as students sitting in a classroom with their teacher in front of them teaching a lesson”, the ministry said.
As a result, the ministry said that schools would be reopened on September 6, 2021.
“We are cognizant that some schools will have different challenges and needs regarding a reopening and as such, individualized plans tailored for each school will be implemented to ensure the safety of our teachers, students and support staff.
“This plan, which will be informed by all the science and learning about COVID-19 including social distancing, sanitizing and mask-wearing will benefit from the input of teachers and the Parent-Teacher Associations of each school and will be announced in the coming days”, the ministry said.
It said that today Guyana will receive its first shipment of Pfizer vaccines, a donation from the United States of America and this shot will be administered solely to children 12 and over.
“Whilst vaccination of children will not be mandatory, we are urging parents to consider the benefits that this vaccine will provide to their children and consent to the vaccine being administered to their children.
“Parental consent forms for this vaccine have been delivered to schools and can be downloaded from the Ministry’s website at: https://education.gov.gy/covid-vaccine.
“Parents can also fill an e-form which can be submitted to indicate their consent. This can be accessed at: https://education.gov.gy/PfizerRegistration”, the ministry said.
If parents are unable to submit the physical copies, they can take a photograph of the completed form and submit it via WhatsApp to telephone number: 652 – 9144. The ministry said that so far thousands of children have received their parents’ consent.
Last November, the ministry had reopened schools for face-to-face teaching for students of Grades 10, 11 and 12.
Entrusted
The ministry said that parents who choose not to send their child to school on the days they are scheduled to attend will be entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that the child is continuously engaged at home and will be able to access all of the Ministry’s materials on our website.
In the press release aimed at teachers, the ministry laid out its case for face-to-face teaching and said that “Teachers who do not wish to be administered …vaccines will be required to submit a negative PCR test once a week. This test is to be done at an approved private facility.
“Teachers who do not report for duty will be marked absent. These measures also apply to the ancillary staff of each school (cleaners, administrative and other support staff). These measures will be captured in the next Gazetted Order for the new month”.
This directive produced a defiant response last night from the President of the GTU, Mark Lyte.
In a post on his Facebook page, he said: “In light of a recent press release (from) the Ministry of Education (MoE) pertaining to teachers’ vaccination, the Guyana Teachers’ Union withdraws with immediate effect its participation from the present assessment of schools and all other planned engagements with MoE until this release is retracted.
“Our teachers were good enough to teach NGSA, CSEC and CAPE, mark NGSA, attend workshops and even participate in school preparedness assessments.
“Our members have called on us to act now in their best interest. We are not opposed to vaccination, but it MUST be voluntary”.
The ministry in its press release said that thousands of teachers have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and commended them for this.
“We take this opportunity to urge those teachers who have not yet taken a vaccine, to use this period, before the reopening of school to visit a vaccination site and be administered one of the available COVID-19 vaccines. The Ministry of Health currently has the AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines available for the adult population.
If any of our teachers have questions on these vaccines or any related question, the Ministry of Education has solicited the assistance of three doctors to provide responses and they can be reached on telephone numbers: 650 – 2289 (Dr. Farah December), 650 – 2308 (Dr. Oneka Scott) and 650 – 2312 (Dr. Ertenisa Hamilton). This is to provide teachers with an opportunity to speak with medical professionals and have their concerns addressed”, ministry said.
The ministry added that it will provide to all teachers face masks, face shields, sanitizing agents (environ) and spray bottles to assist in ensuring they are safe upon their return to the classroom.
