With public schooling set to reopen for face-to-face learning next week, parents of the youngest learners are being asked by the Education Ministry to step forward and offer all necessary support.
Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Assistant Chief Education Officer (Nursery) Samantha Williams encouraged parents to take all nursery school children to school on scheduled days.
She had already announced that only 41 of the 348 nursery schools will open for full face-to-face interactions, while the others will operate on a rotation system, which will see year one and year two learners attending school on different days during the week.
“Adhere to strict pick up and drop off times that all schools will enforce. This is very necessary in order for us to avoid a high level of contamination,” Williams stressed,
Each school will aim to offer a minimum of four hours of contact per week, with a ratio of five learners to one teacher. Parents have been asked to partner with schools to not only become familiar with the schedule for their particular school but to assist in the delivery of the curriculum. As a result, parents are being encouraged to attend each weekly feedback meeting, where they will be informed of the things they can do to assist in curriculum delivery when their children are at home.
Williams further explained that all nursery students will receive a home-based learning package with all relevant resources needed for parents and teachers to be able to provide quality education.
She encouraged school administrators to pursue a robust sanitation programme and requested that parents work with their children to help them understand not to touch or share the resources in their learning package.
“Parent-Teacher Associations can utilise vaccinated parents to assist with the monitoring or supervision of students when they are at schools,” she added, while asking that parents ensure their children take their home-based learning package to school every day that they are scheduled to be there.
“We do not want them sharing those pencils and crayons and all the other resources they use on a regular basis,” Williams said.
Parents have also been asked to regularly speak with their children about going to school and the importance of wearing a mask.
“Share your experience of attending nursery school…talk to them every day about ways they can remain safe in the school environment,” the educator advised, before adding that in the days leading up to the reopening of schools, children should be made to practice a regular sleep routines with no less than 10 hours of sleep per day.
Set a bedtime of 8 pm, Williams suggested, while also asking that parents purchase only simple food containers so that learners can serve themselves.
“Keep it simple and ensure that your children will be able to independently open those containers to access their snacks, juice and water,” Williams said.
Most importantly, parents are being implored not to abuse the school system and to keep their children home if they are sick. “Keep them at home if they have a fever or runny nose or any other symptom,” she stressed.
