Evolving education

SCHOOL reopens –virtually – today, and the third term of the school year begins for students in primary and secondary schools.

For thousands of children who entered primary and secondary school in September 2020, it’s the beginning of the end of a full year of school at a new institution that they have never physically attended.

This third term is likely to be taught remotely, with some exceptions for students in secondary school who need access to labs or require in-person engagement on a very limited basis.

The enormity of that change cannot be underestimated, nor can the resonant impact of a full year of enforced remote learning, especially, perhaps for those who had no access to online learning in the first few months, or ever, owing to lack of electronic devices or internet connectivity. For more than a year, the relationship between student and teacher that’s held true for decades was both changed and challenged.

The Ministry of Education cannot make the mistake of planning only for a simple return to teaching as usual when covid19 is finally brought under control and in-person teaching can resume.

In many countries, the breaking of the education model and close examination of existing practice is already happening, as both the challenges and the opportunities of a more open engagement with education have been forced on schools during the pandemic.

UWI has led the way in the region, rethinking its business model and using the learning experiences of lockdown to broaden and expand its capacity as an educational institution.

On March 1, Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles addressed a virtual press conference on the future of the university, noting that the UWI was in the top one per cent of universities in Latin America and the Caribbean region as well as being the only Caribbean university in the top one per cent of “Golden Age” universities globally, institutions active for between 50 and 80 years.

The One UWI initiative now seeks to address inter-campus duplication of course delivery and to encourage cross-campus teaching and streamlining and harmonising the university’s back-office operations.

Sir Hilary says UWI’s ambition is to amplify its successful Open Campus presence, which gave it a ten-year head start on remote teaching, to become a global campus, with the ambitious goal of moving from 10,000 open-campus students to 100,000.

Those are bold goals, and UWI cannot be faulted for looking at reality squarely and seeking ways to turn it to advantage. Nor can its success at migrating its operations to remote learning rapidly and effectively during the pandemic be denied.

Is there any plan at the Education Ministry to find inspiration and guidance in the UWI experience to expand learning opportunities for secondary-level students who, through either disability or circumstance, have missed out on education opportunities?