KINGSTON, Jamaica – With the country still in the midst of its most deadly wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of students will resume classes on Monday, September 6 for the start of the new school year just like how they ended the last one – from the confines of their home.

This has been the case for the majority of students who have seen no face-to-face interaction since March 13, 2020. That was three days after Jamaica confirmed its first case of COVID-19.

The Minister of Education, Fayval Williams, in an address to the nation Sunday evening, said classes will resume utilising the existing modalities of online instruction, audio visual (television and radio) and the printed learning packages or kits.

For the new school year, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information has added audio learning apps that can be downloaded onto smart devices. Additionally, two 24-hour television channels have been launched, one for primary students and the other for secondary schools.

“Live and recorded lessons will be available 24 hours per day, seven days per week…,” Williams said in her back-to-school message.

The minister said the ministry will intensify its efforts to reach students who were unreachable last year.

“We must remain true to our mission of not leaving any child behind,” she stated.

The Jamaica Teachers Association last year estimated that up to 200,000 students were without electronic devices that would have allowed them to continue their education online after classrooms were shuttered.

This time around, the minister appears more optimistic. She said the start of the new school year will see more students with electronic devices than at any other time in the nation’s history. This, she said, will significantly reduce the digital divide in the education sector.

As of Saturday, September 4, Jamaica had confirmed 71,344 cases of COVID-19 and 1,619 deaths. More than 350 of those deaths came in the month of August alone as the more contagious Delta variant sweeps across the country.

The education minister is urging Jamaicans to get vaccinated so that students can return to the classroom more quickly.