YALLAHS, St Thomas – Principal of Yallahs High School, Mark Malabver says his school is ready for reopening come Monday, January 17, despite COVID-19 concerns among some parents and students.

Principal Malabver said that he has had meetings with staff, parents and students to alley some of their fears ahead of the return of face-to-face learning at the institution.

There were concerns about how the vaccinated children and unvaccinated children would be treated. Some parents and students questioned why unvaccinated students were being allowed to enter school.

“We’ve had several discussions along that line but we told (them) that when they are vaccinated it offers them another layer of protection when they come to face to face. There are some parents and students who question why unvaccinated students are allowed to come to school. We discussed that and we just try to alley their fears as we seek to make them as comfortable as possible,” Malabver told OBSERVER ONLINE.

According to Malabver, the vaccinated student population stands at around 55 per cent.

Another issue facing schools and to which Yallahs High School is not immune is that a number of students, mostly boys, have abandoned their education in favour of working.

Malabver said that he would be employing different strategies to ensure that he gets as many of the students back in class. However, he said he would have to wait until the school is fully reopened and a clear indication of attendance is ascertained before he determines which method to employ.

“We have to wait and see [how many students turn out]; if it is about a week or so we will take a look at it (attendance record) to see what our numbers are looking like. Those students who have not returned to school we will be reaching out to them. We will be doing the yard to yard initiative after to find the students to ascertain what has happened to them and how best we could facilitate their return to school,” Malabver said.  

Despite concerns, the school has met the guidelines by the ministries of health and education for its reopening.

“We have put all that we can in place, we have prepared ourselves we have had meetings with the PTA, the parent body, we have had meeting with staff members and we have put all our plans in pace to accommodate the students for face-to-face classes,” Malabver said.

Two health inspections were carried out at the school, which installed additional hand-wash stations for sanitisation.

“We have looked at all the protocols, we have shared the protocols with the students, we have shared them with the parents; we have looked at the schedule and have tweaked the schedule significantly to maximise face-to-face classes for the entire school,” Malabver pointed out.

The high school principal said that the rural bus system would be rolled out shortly as another layer of protection for the children.

He said the extra step was needed as the country is currently in the grips of a fourth wave of COVID-19.

“So we have taken all the necessary steps involved; this is done in context of the fact that we are now in a significant spike and we have to ensure that we mitigate against the impact of the virus,” he said.

“So we have done everything that we can, we just want to encourage the parents to send their children,” he added.