…but with a rotation system for learners

By Tamica Garnett
PUBLIC schools could possibly re-open from September, utilizing an alternating system that would rotate students of the varying levels to avoid overcrowding in the schools, and though teachers have concerns about how the logistics will be worked out, many believe that re-opening is needed as students are suffering.
According to reports from a source, the Ministry of Education’s (MoE’s) officials have begun meeting with some headteachers and teachers to get their opinion on the practicality of the proposed rotating arrangement aimed at having a lower number of learners at a school at any one time.
Notwithstanding Guyana’s growing COVID-19 situation, several teachers are voicing that they are ready to go back to school, given the lengthy period the schools have been closed.

“I am happy for the return because some students, for whatever reasons, have not done any work since March,” shared one teacher, who teaches at a primary school in the city.

The teachers have asked that their identities not be revealed. “I think the reopening is a move in the right direction, based on the information I’ve received it’s shift system starting with Grades 5 and 10, and gradually incorporating the others grades,” the teacher explained.

Last Monday, during the daily national COVID-19 update, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Karen Boyle, cautioned that schools should begin brainstorming comprehensive plans to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in schools “scheduled to reopen for the new academic year”.

In Guyana, public schools’ academic year begins in September. Boyle suggested the identifying of focal points and the formulation of a joint committee between parents and teachers to work out the best possible situation to ensure the students’ safety as they return to school. “If you introduce the system by levels at the schools the children will get accustomed to it. It’s about phasing in the protocol. It’s a lot of logistical work, but once you have a structure that is followed stringently and the supervisors on the ground, we don’t have a problem,” noted one head teacher of a Secondary school in the city.

As the Ministry goes about crafting their plans, teachers are hopeful that they will directly be engaged and recommended that the Ministry does not simply implement a one size fits all plan all across the country.

“Different Regions will have different challenges, so I hope that they can assess each Region individually and talk with the teachers,” commented a Grade Six teacher from the Pomeroon-Supenaam Region.

The teacher said that consideration will have to be given to having the students still cover the work they would’ve missed during the period at home.
“They might have to adjust the curriculum, and have a plan in place to do a lot of re-teaching. I have a lot of children I am working with but they are a fraction of my students. What will happen to the children that didn’t have access to internet and so on?” the teacher noted.

According to a source, the new school system would build on what was already implemented by the schools during the partial re-opening of schools for primary school pupils to write the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and for secondary school students to write their CSEC and CAPE examinations.

“During this CSEC period the MOE ensured everything was in place for proper sanitation and safety, so if this continues it would be good, since it will not be the entire school population at one time. My only concern is public transportation,” commented one teacher, who teaches at a secondary school in the City. The teacher suggested that the Ministry implements a transportation system for the students that would enable them to avoid having the students utilising public transportation. A teacher from a nursery school on East Bank Demerara, though while supporting a plan to see schools re-open, noted that she does not believe that the plan should extend to the nursery schools, where it would be difficult for the younger children to understand and follow guidelines.

In nursery school, children enter the system once they are at least three years 9 months.
“I don’t know, how that would work in nursery schools. The primary and secondary school children would have more understanding, so I think it should be for them but not for nursery. It’s actually like babies you’re dealing with,” the teacher conveyed. Teachers have also voiced concerns about how the plan would work for interior regions such as Barima-Waini and Cuyuni Mazaruni, which have become hotspots for the infectious virus.

Schools in Guyana have been closed since March 16, following the country’s first COVID-19 case being recorded on March 11, and teachers are worried of how the long gap will affect the students and the entire education system going forward.

“Education is key in any society. If you keep pushing it back you would be pushing the whole nation backward. We will have more work to do with them if you keep pushing it back,” the City Secondary school headteacher noted.

In some instances teachers have been utilising social media and other technological means to communicate and work with their students.
However that was done via an informal system, and was not an across-the-board implementation at all schools, and even those areas where it was implemented teachers do not believe it did justice in replacing in-class sessions.

“Working with an online platform is difficult. We were taught it is better for students to see, and for teachers to be in front of them. So they need to re-open school,” noted another school teacher, who teaches at an East Coast Demerara secondary school. The teacher opines that normal life could only be put on hold for so long, before we perhaps have to start considering a society with COVID-19 as our new normal.

“Even if COVID-19 dies down it’s not going anywhere, we have to readjust ourselves and it doesn’t make sense that we delay the school system. We have to accept normal as it is and let our students’ academic endeavours go forward,” the teacher asserted. “Teachers may complain about COVID-19 and risks of going back to school but when is pay-day we are among the many that stand in the long lines collecting our money; so if we can risk ourselves to receive our salaries, why not brave it to help out our students,” she added.

The effect of the teaching gap on the students was noticed by some teachers when they observed just how affected some of the students were when they came back out during the partial re-opening that started in June. “It was evident when the fifth formers came back that even though we were doing work with them online, when they came back you found a lot of basic stuff they forgot, so then what must be happening with the other students and the rest of the student population,” the Headteacher of the City secondary school said.