Gadsby-Dolly: Our children cannot suffer

The new school term, as outlined by the new Minister of Education, began on September 1 with the orientation of teachers and principals.

This week’s orientation follows a week of negotiations between the ministry and education stakeholders on how to plan the school term, given the recent spike in covid19 cases.

“One thing we can all agree on is that our children cannot suffer, (even with) the circumstances as they are,” Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said in a phone interview on Monday.

She said the education stakeholders’ meetings were attended by a “diverse group” of individuals, all with the best interest of students at heart.

“We are committed to doing the best we can to ensure students are engaged in the learning process…We all agreed the contact between teacher, parent and student has to be fully maintained for this to work the best it can.”

Dolly said the first week of her new appointment has been gruelling.

“It feels more like a months,” she joked, adding because of the time of her appointment, on the cusp of the new school term, the ministry team had a lot of ground to cover and fast.

“This ministry has had a very tumultuous time during covid19…It’s a learning curve (where) important decisions have to be taken in a short space of time.”

In an interview on TTT’s The New Morning Show on Tuesday, the minister said the upcoming week will be a very important time for teachers and principals to orient themselves on the way forward.

“It is very important now that the school, as a team, understands its goal, its purpose. Teachers that need assistance can say so, and work toward getting the assistance they need.”

Next week, she said, will focus on the orientation of students and parents.

Gadsby-Dolly said training for teachers on online teaching techniques has been going on since March.

“Not everyone can jump into the online environment.”

She said while the ministry plans to complete the school term with virtual classes, packages of printed materials will be created for students who do not have access to devices or connectivity.

“Globally, that is the system designed for students who don’t have connectivity, and it can work, if the child and parents are engaged with the teachers.”

She said children should also have text books available to them to assist with their lessons and called on school principals to release booklists for parents.

Asked about the introduction of e-books to the curriculum, Gadsby-Dolly said, “We definitely are moving towards the e-book.

"We are pursuing that option, so as we go into our next term, which we are hoping will be a blended term, (as) that really is the best option, we would be able to use that format.

“We are not there yet. So as of now, we ask schools to supply booklists as a fallback.”

Gadsby-Dolly also said the ministry is prioritising special-needs students by providing devices for them in the coming days.

“We do have requests from the special schools for devices. The ministry is going to assist special-education students first.”

She said during her visits to special education institutions last week, teachers and parents also addressed concerns such as space, waiting lists, and working without special-education tools or aids.

“Special-education students can get into regular schools, but they must have aids. If we can supply more aids, then they can get into the normal schooling system.”

She said the ministry will be looking into these and other issues surrounding special education, moving forward.

Gadsby-Dolly said SEA results, which are expected on October 8, will accommodate the introduction of standard five students to their new secondary schools by the middle to the end of October.

She added the ministry will be looking at having the SEA exam at a different time in 2021 and 2022.

“We would have to be different from this year in terms of narrowing the curriculum…also looking at having it later, not as late as August, but not as early as March.”

The minister said although discussions on changing the SEA system completely had been ongoing for some time, “We’d have to look at it from all angles, but the door isn’t shut on it.”