KINGSTON, Jamaica—  Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Fayval Williams, says she is satisfied with the measures put in place at schools to facilitate face-to-face classes.

Speaking after a tour of three schools in the Corporate Area yesterday Williams said she was pleased with the care she has seen from the schools so far.

“They have been careful. You can see where they have been planning for this moment of face-to-face and it gives confidence that students who are on the compounds physically are here safely,” she said.

The institutions visited were Penwood High, Seaward Primary and Junior High, and Haile Selassie High.

They are among 125 institutions that were approved for the resumption of face-to-face classes for the second term of the 2020/2021 academic year, which began on Monday.

This follows the favourable completion of a pilot last November, which involved 17 schools.

The minister said that the visit to the schools was to “meet teachers [and] principals on the ground, visit some students in classes, and we’ve been able to do that”.

“We wanted to see how well the schools were observing the COVID protocols and I’ve been pleased, so far, in terms of the visits to schools,” she added.

Williams reiterated that all students in Jamaica must be engaged in school, whether remotely or physically, during the pandemic.

She encouraged school administrators to have flexibility with both online and face-to-face classes.

 “Schools are allowed to look at their student body and plan for the student body, in terms of allowing some classes on certain days. They’re allowed to do rotation, they’re allowed to do the blended approach, because we know that all students cannot be back on the school compound at the same time,” she noted.