Leaving no one behind
Inner-city schools pulling out all the stops to reach children who cannot access online learning
FACED with the possibility that as many as 40 per cent of their students would not be able to access online learning, principals and teachers at several schools in inner-city communities in the Corporate Area are pulling out all the stops to ensure that no one is left behind.
When classes resumed yesterday, a number of schools in some of the toughest communities in Kingston and St Andrew reported that fewer than 50 per cent of their students had registered for online lessons, with most principals indicating that they expect this number to increase during the course of this week.
But the principals noted that there were some parents who they have been unable to contact, while others have indicated that they have no way of getting their children into the virtual classrooms.
Principal of Norman Manley High School, Adaire Powellbrown told the Jamaica Observer that it was too early to say how many of her students would access the virtual classrooms, but a high number, particularly those in grade 11, have been engaged online since September 7.
According to Powell-brown, everyday more and more students have been logging in as they accept that this is the way the system will operate at this time.
“We have started issuing the textbooks, and those who are not online will be given work from the textbooks,” said Powell-brown, as she underscored that every effort will be made to ensure that the approximately 1,500 students enrolled at the Maxfield Avenue-situated school are all involved in the teaching and learning process.
“Last week we made a decision that the students who the teachers are not reaching, the dean and the guidance counsellors will be getting on board and trying to reach them. If we can’t reach them by telephone or Whatsapp, then the counsellors and the dean will be visiting their homes to see what is going on,” added Powell-brown.
At New Providence Primary School, Principal Olga Clarke noted that fewer than 40 per cent of the more than 500 students enrolled had started online classes yesterday.
“We are here today [Monday] because I know that a number of parents will turn up because, a large percentage of this school, they are not online. I have been getting a lot of calls and I forward them to the teacher and then we decide how to move forward with them, because most of them do not have an instrument to access online,” said Clarke.
“As you know, the education ministry has sent out TV schedules so we will advise them when to watch and we are also going to prepare packages of printed material for those who can’t go online,” added Clarke, whose school serves students from several inner-city communities including Standpipe, Mud Town, August Town, and Chambers Lane.
Over at New Day Primary and Junior High School, Principal Olga Brown said classes started yesterday with a meeting using the Zoom platform, with approximately 50 per cent of the registered students participating.
“But we are working on that and we are planning that, if by the end of the week we have not contacted these parents whose children are not online, we are going to get a town crier to go around the community to see if we can get some contact with them,” said Brown.
“Those who don’t have any phones or any devices to join online, we will get the printed material that the Government will be giving out to them. The teachers are really anxious to get these children back, and for those students who are unable to come online because they do not [have] any devices, Wi-fi or data, it will be difficult – but we are trying everything that we can do to get them to be at the same place as everybody else,” added Brown.
New Day, which is transitioning from a primary and junior high school to just a primary school, has more than 200 students enrolled and caters mainly to children in the Grant’s Pen and Barbican communities.
Technology issues are the biggest challenge for a number of the students at the west central St Andrew-based St Jude’s Primary School.
According to Principal Susanna Ainsworth, some parents opted for a cheaper device sold on Amazon but they have found that these are incompatible with the Google Suite for Education, which is the Ministry of Education’s preferred system.
Ainsworth said some students, mainly those in grade one, and some teachers were unable to log on to the platform yesterday morning, as they had not received their education ministry-assigned e-mail addresses.
In addition, several parents have not yet accessed devices which their children can use to get online.
“You have to remember that in the primary school system in Jamaica, you have middle class and lower class Jamaicans, no upper class, and a lot of them don’t have gadgets. So you find that teachers, even though they do online teaching, they have to be sending text messages to these students because a lot of the parents use the ‘banger’ phone, which does not have the capacity to go online,” said Ainsworth, as she noted that most of her students live in inner-city communities and do not have access to Wi-fi.
“It would be nice if the Government could step in and put Wi-fi access or hotspots all over the neighbourhood so that the children can access the Internet, because a lot of our parents are not working at this time so they cannot pay for Internet services, so the children get left behind.
“Some students got left behind last year, but my team is working hard to ensure than none get left behind this year,” added Ainsworth, whose school has a population of just over 1,000 students.