Different rules for different schools as some students return Monday

Principals are having mixed feelings about students return to schools on Monday.

Students have been engaged in virtual classes since March of last year after the covid19 virus breached TT borders.

On January 28, Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly announced that students preparing for examinations will be allowed to return to physical classrooms. Secondary school students in forms four, five, and six preparing for Certificate in Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) will return to school labs to complete their School Based Assessments (SBAs) and practicals from Monday.

Standard five students preparing for Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) will return to classes at the beginning of the third term.

“Principals are a bit apprehensive,” said Sherra Carrington-James, president of the Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools of TT. She said principals are working with social distancing, but schools in some areas are still having some issues with connectivity.

She said while principals would do their best to manage, there might be areas of the school that did not have connectivity support. She said that could lead to challenges with all students on the compound.

“That continues to be a concern (but), with teachers on the compound, we can manage.”

She said because many teachers teach both upper and lower school, juggling online classes with lower school students, and physical labs with upper school students may also pose some challenges, especially for larger schools.

She also said schools had not received the necessary releases on funding for sanitisation resources.

On Thursday afternoon, after Newsday’s phone interview with Carrington-James, the Ministry of Education issued a statement which said funding, in the aggregate amount of $22 million, for government and government assisted secondary schools was made available on Tuesday and Thursday.

The statement said schools were contacted on Tuesday and alerted that releases were received and being processed.
“The School Supervision and Management Division began contacting principals (on Thursday) for the collection of packages with the allocations to their respective schools.”

It added the ministry had ensured that funds were supplied for equipment and materials needed to complete practicals and SBAs.

Carrington-James also said principals were receiving conflicting reports from line supervisors as to the hours students should be allowed on the school compound.

She said some principals had received instructions to have students on the school compound during normal school hours and others had received instructions for students to be on the compound for labs only and continue their classes online at home.

Newsday also received a report of a secondary school on the East-West corridor which sent out a memo for students to be on the compound promptly at 8.30 am. Students will not be allowed to leave that compound until 2.30 pm, unless accompanied or authorised in writing by a parent.

Principal of Fatima College Fr Gregory Augustine said students will only be coming to school to complete their SBAs and will be allowed to leave after. “It’s a simple exercise of a lab to be done,” he said.

He said teachers were comfortable about the return to classes and there was enough room at the school to accommodate the rotation of labs.

“We do what we have to do and we go back home. We understand the protocols. We have been cleaning the school all the time…It’s a straightforward exercise.”