Reynaldo Walcott, coach of the St Elizabeth Technical High school (STETHS) track and field team, has suggested that the Ministry of Education and the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) make special provisions for students who will leave school this year to return for an extra year and still be able to compete in sports, even if they might be older than the maximum age allowed under the current rules.

With the suspension of schools due to COVID-19 concerns and the disruptions that it is creating,Walcott says it would be unfair for the students if they should be rushed back to sit exams they were not properly prepared for and then “sent on to the next level”.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer earlier this week, Walcott said rather than focus on the effects of the cancellation of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships, his concern was more for those students who were going to miss a large portion of school and were still expected to sit exams.

“It is tough for the seniors who are leaving, instead of focusing on Champs, one school of thought is that in the United Kingdom they are calling for the cancellation of [external exams] and let every one in that year group repeat a year, as it makes no sense to move them forward without testing them because they were not fully prepared,” Walcott reasoned.

Walcott added: “You have a year group who were not equipped and the consequence is that they are at a disadvantage, so they might be happy to leave and do not want to repeat, but when they go out in the world they are not protected in that year group and they will be competing with those older and younger and they are not equipped properly so nothing is wrong with them staying back except the rules that we made ourselves.”

Forcing the students back to schools to sit the exams before the threat of the coronavirus is totally gone has its own threats, he said.

“What about the kids with higher risk that already have upper-respiratory illnesses like asthma, etcetera? Do we send them out to be infected by potentially sick people? What about sick invigilators who will infect others?” Walcott quizzed.

If the students are allowed to return to school, he argued, they must be allowed to fully participate in all that the schools offer.

“They must be allowed to participate in all sports, everything that is available to others; if you keeping them back they would repeat the year group. However, for ISSA purposes they can’t break any records, for example, but the trouble you might have is that they can move forward in ISSA class except for the final-year Class One would stay in Class One, but can’t break any records,” argued Walcott.

He admitted that it was a lot to consider, but admitted that “the key thing is to follow the advise of the Government and the medical people”.

“[And we need] to be responsible for ourselves and others, pretend as if you have the virus already and don’t want to spread it to others, exercise a due level of care; it’s not just you if you catch it, you don’t want to give it to others, so self-isolate, observe social distance, and wash hands,” Walcott ended.