Ministries to meet with private schools about face-to-face reopening
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and the Ministry of Health and Wellness will be having consultations with private schools which have unique challenges and won’t be able to use any of the back-to-school modalities implemented by the Government.
Minister of Education Fayval Williams said that many independent schools, for example, serve many special needs children for whom the three approaches outlined by Government are not ideal, and others would have invested heavily in significantly improving the safety of their environment for face-to-face classes.
“We could learn from those who opened their doors on September 7 and remained open in a very safe way…,” Williams told the House of Representatives this afternoon.
She said the ministries will be meeting with these schools to look at their unique situations and ensure there are strong disaster risk management protocols in action every day, and that parents understand their responsibilities, and the uncertainties of the pandemic.
“Our independent schools are hurting financially. They have some unique challenges to which our ministry must respond. These independent schools exist and find ways to keep themselves going financially as a result of decisions and choices that parents make to fund the tuition and so these schools do not make a call on the Government’s purse,” she said.
“Even as our public school students remain at home until such time as the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools and the National Parent Teachers Association of Jamaica are comfortable in allowing our children the face-to-face instruction, we must find ways to accommodate the diversity of schools that exists in our education sector.”
Public schools began classes yesterday, with students remaining at home and receiving the teaching and learning experience in a number of different approaches – online; by audio/visual means utilising the TV, cable network and radio; and the ministry’s Learning Kit with their textbooks and worksheets.
