Letter of the Day | We need to transform education collectively
Published:Friday | November 6, 2020 | 12:07 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
I would like to thank Ronnie Thwaites, who is certainly doing the right thing by visiting schools to get first-hand information.
But in trying to be kind/fair to Minister Fayval Williams, you are contradicting what you say later. That is, that school boards, etc, should not be waiting on instructions from the Ministry of Education, and should be proactive in putting measures together for implementing COVID-19 protocols in place.
Many, or most rural primary schools, at least, could be immediately opened with staggered attendance, each attending for (let’s say) two days per week, or at least two half-days. It is in those schools, after all, where the required equipment and connectivity is most lacking.
As for larger schools, surely a staggered one-day-per-week schedule should be immediately possible, reducing the student population to one-fifth at any one time and thus maintaining social distancing at school and while travelling. If we wait on the Ministry of Education’s experiments, most students will miss a whole year of schooling.
PAUL WARD
Oracabessa