OPPOSITION People’s National Party (PNP) spokesman on education and training, Peter Bunting, has called for the establishment of a broad-based task force under the National Council on Education to assess and plan for the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the education sector. 

The task force, he said in a weekend release, should also determine the changes necessary to make the educational infrastructure more resilient to the impact of future pandemics or similar disruptions. Such changes, he said, would ensure that all students are media literate, acceleration of the adoption of technology in schools, and there is training of teachers to effectively deliver instruction online.

The Government, he noted, currently requires all students to access learning remotely through virtual platforms utilised by their educational institutions.

“However, surveys indicate that a significant percentage of students have no reliable access to the Internet, while many educational professionals were ill-prepared and do not have the digital infrastructure available to make effective use of these virtual platforms and household Internet access in Jamaica is estimated at only 55 per cent, which is not adequate to support the teaching and learning needs of all students, said Bunting.

Additionally, said the Opposition spokesman, many parents have been complaining of an inability to afford data packages to access these platforms from mobile devices.

“Therefore, the sudden introduction of remote learning has exacerbated the inequities in the educational system. The latest update on the contract approved by Cabinet on March 9, 2020 for the purchase of tablet computers for public sector teachers indicates that these tablets will not be available until June, and so will have only minimal impact on the summer term.

“The Opposition acknowledges the unprecedented impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the education sector worldwide and accepts that our children must learn from home for the time being. Nevertheless, there are key lessons that have emerged from past forced school closures in response to disasters,” said Bunting.

He urged the Government to:

1. Make every effort to maintain teaching, and teachers’ contact with students, in order to prevent learning regression and to mitigate the emotional impact on children.

2. Give priority to reopening early childhood and primary schools as soon as medical personnel advise that conditions allow. Younger children need more personal contact, and time to play with other children. They are also at lower risk from COVID.

3. Plan for the likelihood that there will be fewer high school graduates and enrollees to colleges and universities for the 2020/2021 academic year due to the economic fallout from the pandemic.

“ The proposed task force must seriously consider how to reconfigure the next academic year to help students catch up and mitigate the long- term impact emanating from the COVID-19 lockdown. The Opposition salutes the extraordinary initiative, effort, and sacrifice being made by some principals and teachers during this period of school closure. Some have even worked tirelessly to organise the distribution of care packages to needy children and their families,” said Bunting.

The Government, he said, should consult the best minds and the widest cross section of stakeholder participation in the proposed task force to plan the way forward and safeguard the education of the nation’s children.