MoE data: Over 46,000 students have never logged on to online learning portal

Data provided by the Ministry of Education and presented at a Joint Select Committee on Social Services and Public Administration (JSC SSPA) virtual meeting on Wednesday, said that 46,770 students at both primary and secondary level, have never logged on to portals facilitating online learning.

The data also said 39,861 primary school students and 6,909 secondary school students and 2,195 Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) have been unable to access online learning resources provided by the ministry.

The data was presented by Paul Richards, who chaired the meeting, where education stakeholders examined the effects of the blended learning system performance in government and government-assisted schools during the revised covid19 restrictions.

The data also highlighted reactions from teachers, students and parents participating in online classes since March of last year.

It said most teachers reported having reliable internet connections, with 81.5 per cent of secondary school teachers and 71.0 per cent of primary school teachers agreeing that they did.

Teachers were also mostly satisfied with the software available to them, it said.

However, the data said 34.1 per cent of primary school teachers and 35.3 per cent of secondary school teachers agreed that their students did not have reliable internet.

It also revealed more than half of students – 51.9 per cent of primary school students and 52.1 per cent of secondary school students – reported difficulty staying focused during remote learning.

Students also reported feeling more stressed than usual.

The data said while most parents felt comfortable supporting their children academically during virtual classes, there were challenges in managing their own work and their children'’ schoolwork and keeping a steady schedule for their child.

The committee also discussed issues surrounding monitoring tests and assessment systems in place for online students.

Director of Curriculum, Planning, and Development for the ministry Anna Singh said the ministry’s attempt to manage online learning meant attempting “preliminary and simple approaches.”

She said there was not enough time to facilitate more sophisticated approaches.

TT Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) director of education research Lisa Ibrahim-Joseph said  a survey of 2,315 TTUTA members revealed a range of strategies used to engage students online, including applications not provided by the ministry such as game-based learning applications like Kahoot.

She said, “In the absence of a social system that exercises controls over how tests are administered, it can be difficult to determine if the results would yield reliable information in student performance.”

President of the Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools of TT Sherra Carrington-James also said teachers have used time as a resource to ensure that students’ responses are authentic, in cases where they may be prompted by parents.

She said the cost to monitor students using testing software like Exemplify – used to monitor students during exams in an online environment – was too expensive. She said teachers should talk to parents and explain to them that prompting students will not help them long-term.