Nearly half of St Mary schools not reopening today

NEARLY 50 per cent of schools in St Mary that are on the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) list to resume face-to-face classes on Monday, November 8, will not open their doors as scheduled.

Only 22 of the 43 schools certified by the Ministry of Health will reopen, MOE Region Two Director Janet Brimm disclosed on Sunday.

Brimm was unable to confirm, at the time, why the other 21 schools would not reopen as scheduled after being passed fit.

However, Brenton Pinnock, principal of Carron Hall Primary, one of the schools that will not reopen, had reported last Thursday that his school will instead reopen on November 15 as some parents were not ready because they were still waiting on uniforms for their children.

Despite issuing the November 8 start, the MOE had instructed schools to consult with parents to arrive at a consensus on a start date in order to give them adequate time to prepare.

Region Two also includes schools in St Thomas and Portland.

In St Ann, which shares Region Three with Trelawny, 35 schools will open as scheduled, according to Region Three Director Karlene Segre.

In addition, the 14 schools in Trelawny will also resume as scheduled.

“Yes, they are ready,” Segre confirmed on Sunday.

“For them to be ready, they would have had to have a visit from the Ministry of Health for a recertification. They were all certified already in March (2021) but for them to reopen now, the recommendation was for them to be recertified, and they are recertified. The schools in Region Three are ready,” Segre added.

For certification, schools must have, among other requirements, an isolation room, personal protection equipment, working handwash stations, clean water for washing hands and for drinking, and documentation on desk sanitisation schedules.

The MOE has certified for reopening 376 small primary and infant schools islandwide for students aged six to12 years.

Schools have been shuttered for the majority of the last 20 months since the novel coronavirus was detected here. That triggered a paradigm shift in teaching and learning, with online classes the most favoured means. However, there have been marked deficits in learning outcomes, as many students have no Internet access or computer. And more than 100,000 students have not been tracked by administrators.

The vast majority of the 376 recertified schools are in rural Jamaica. Thirty are in Kingston and St Andrew, which comprise Region One, with the other 346 are spread across the remaining 12 parishes.