MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Some school leaders in this south-central parish are hopeful that students who were left at a disadvantage last year due to limitations of Internet connectivity and access to devices, will turn out for face-to-face classes following yesterday’s resumption.

Administrators of Mile Gully High, Mile Gully Primary and Devon Primary told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that it was too early to assess the turnout of students, who will return to classes in groups daily.

Principal of Mile Gully High, Christopher Tyme said many of his students who will be attending face-to-face classes had been left behind last year.

“We would not have been able to make contact with a significant number of our children; they are living on the side closer to St Elizabeth where they don’t have access to the Internet. Many of them don’t have access to cell service so they wouldn’t be able to make calls either. Even if they had the device, they still would not be able to access online learning,” he said.

“We are working with a blended model, so those who have access to the Internet and desire not to attend school can do that from home, because we still provide that option to them, but for those who don’t have access then we provide this opportunity for those students. We don’t take it lightly though because of the situation in which we are, so we have to make sure that we are certified by the Ministry of Health,” he said.

Some students, he added, faced difficulty in learning at home and needed individual attention.

“We have children who are reading at very low levels so they can’t learn from home. They need that individual attention so we have to see how we can provide [that]. Our numbers [turnout] are always going to be low to reduce the risk of transmission, but at least we get to those children who are reading below their grade level,” he said.

The north-western Manchester school, with a population of 766 students and 50 teachers, has been implementing measures to reach students.

“The teachers have two timetables which they operate by; they have a timetable for face-to-face instruction and a timetable for online instruction. So our teachers come in when they have face-to-face classes, and those who have access at home to the Internet would just conduct their classes from home, so we still reduce the number of people on campus,” Tyme told the Observer.

Five new temporary classrooms are to be constructed at the institution, with work set to start within two weeks.

At Mile Gully Primary School, Principal Heiley Salabie-Knight reflected on last year’s pilot.

“The pilot here at Mile Gully Primary, I think it was not as successful as we wanted it to be because we roughly had about 60 per cent of our population participating in the face-to-face phased reopening…The students we expected to come out were not the ones who came. The ones who came were actually the ones who were online,” she said.

Classes are to commence today at the institution.

“We are hoping that we can have at least 90 per cent of the population coming out at this time….Grades one and two [today], three and four on Wednesday and five and six out on Thursday, so everybody should be out by Thursday,” said Salabie-Knight.

In north-eastern Manchester, principal of Devon Primary School, Nadine Nembhard-Foster said orientations started at the institution yesterday.

“Things are calm. We are taking in the students in phases so we only have grades one and two here today [yesterday]. We are trying to go through the orientation process for them and as we progress, we will have different grades coming in. By next Monday we should have everybody coming in,” she said.

Principal of Belair High School, Lawrence Rowe disclosed that the institution was still assessing the risks associated with COVID-19, with classes resuming only online yesterday.

“We are going with online classes for the next two weeks because when we met we felt that, taking into consideration the festive season, there might be a spike so we wanted at least a two-week break to actually assess our situation carefully before we return,” he said.

“I want to see what is happening in the other schools, and with this new strain that has been picked up I am a little worried and I know some of the parents are concerned,” he added.

A senior school official at May Day High School disclosed that classes will not resume face-to-face there due to ongoing repair work at the school, with students instead resuming classes online.