KINGSTON, Jamaica – While the new school year will officially get underway on September 1, it will be a staggered reopening that will not see high school students returning to the classroom until October at the earliest.

Actual teaching will start on September 6 using the various modalities that have been in place since March 2020, when the novel coronavirus upended lives across the island. These include online and audio visual instruction as well as the delivery of printed learning packages/kits which include textbooks, handouts and worksheets.

The Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Fayval Williams, gave the update Wednesday.

With Jamaica being buffeted by a third wave of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told a COVID-19 press conference on August 9 where he announced more restrictive measures to combat the virus that the government was looking to mid-September for the resumption of classes.

However, many of the several hundred thousand students who have not benefitted from face-to-face instruction since March 13 last year when schools were shuttered three days after Jamaica confirmed its first case of COVID-19, will be forced to wait a bit longer before they see either their teacher or friends in the flesh.

With the Ministry of Health and Wellness confirming on Wednesday that the more highly contagious Delta variant of the virus is present in the country and with hundreds of new infections daily over the past several weeks, the Administration is hoping that there will be significant vaccine take-up, including among 12-year-olds and adolescents. Some 204,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected in the island on Thursday and priority is being given to this age group.

Williams said the health ministry will roll out its vaccination programme for the youngsters this weekend and is urging parents to make their children available for the jab to facilitate a quicker return to some semblance of normalcy in the classroom.

“Given the timeline for vaccination of our 12-year-olds and older, face-to-face teaching and learning in our high schools is targeted for early to mid-October,” Williams revealed.

She said primary and early childhood institutions will resume face-to-face classes in mid-September but with reduced class sizes. Preference will be given to students who are without electronic devices that would allow them to connect virtually and attendance will also be staggered to allow as many students as possible to benefit.