Back-to-school jitters amid issues with Internet, device access
THE reopening of schools virtually yesterday was fraught with widespread reports of lack of access to smart devices and the Internet, and administrators not being able to make contact with their students.
The Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) is hopeful that there will be improvements as the roll-out of virtual learning continues, but said there does not appear to have been much improvement with connectivity issues since the last school term.
JTA President Jasford Gabriel told the Jamaica Observer that “there are quite a few challenges, especially as it relates to Internet connectivity, and so the teachers have not been able to locate many of their students online,” he said, adding that this has been the case especially for schools in deep rural areas.
“Even though the G Suite service is connected, you still need Internet connectivity in order to get onto the platform. We know that it’s early days, as far as the online roll-out is concerned, and we are hoping that it will get better as we go on. We are hoping many more persons will be able to connect,” he said.
The JTA president noted that teachers have received training and are eager to engage students, using the first few days for psychosocial contact.
“We are hoping that by the time the instructional side of things begin, that we will see some improvement as far as more students logging on,” Gabriel said.
He noted that schools are also administering diagnostics in order to determine the extent of the fallout in the education system due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the meantime, Opposition spokesperson on education Angela Brown Burke said she is still concerned about the number of students who are unable to access content for learning. “Clarity is needed around the issuance of tablets, who qualifies, and so on. There is the one for PATH [Programme of Advancement through Health and Education] students, but for the NON-PATH students, people are not certain who qualifies,” she said.
She also pointed to the issue of the absence of electricity in many rural households, which means numerous students would not be able to access the television broadcast of lessons.
“There are different modalities being used, but if you don’t have electricity some of those are going to be extremely difficult for you to engage, and there are areas where persons do not have electricity, so that is an issue I’m concerned about,” she said.
Brown Burke dismissed the impression, which, she said, was given by the portfolio minister, that all students would have access.
“We are seeing that to be far from the truth. I am concerned that [what] we are doing is not ensuring that we get rid of some of the inequalities that exist in the current system. We have a chance to reset and to rebuild stronger and better, and I don’t think we are doing that,” she stated.
President of the National Parent-teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) Mitzie Harris-dillon said, according to feedback from some of the education regions, jitters were evident yesterday, with one school reporting the situation as “chaotic”, as parents were anxious and some not familiar with navigating the virtual platform.
Region two, she said, advised that some schools were online, but some had glitches with Internet connectivity, which were later resolved.
“Everybody was already on edge about what to expect for today, and by the time we heard the minister give her speech yesterday [Sunday], would have realised that there is a far greater number which is closer to the figure that we presented to them back in April as not having access, and they were saying no,” she sad.
She said, too, that feedback from region three was that parents are cognisant that there would be challenges, as there were with the Google Suite platform, along with Internet connectivity issues. Harris-dillon said, too, that the NPTAJ is, in collaboration with the JTA, advancing discussions with an overseas entity to devise a means of support for students who do not have devices.