By EARYEL BOWLEG
Tribune Staff Reporter
ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
THE Ministry of Education is still in discussions with health officials to determine the appropriate model of instruction when school reopens amid a surge in COVID-19 cases and fears of the highly contagious Delta variant.
Director of Education Marcellus Taylor said teachers will report to work on August 23 while students are scheduled to report to school on August 30. However, the details about the new school year are still being worked out.
“As you would be aware, we’ve said from March 2020 that (we will) make these decisions in combination with the Ministry of Health and guided by their concerns regarding the public health situation,” he said yesterday.
“We’re working with health (officials). They’re looking at the situation in terms of the number of cases and all of that and where the trouble spots are and whatever. They are going to advise us.”
This comes as the Senate passed a resolution yesterday to extend the Emergency Powers Orders until November and as cases and deaths continue to climb.
Officials have also said in this wave of the pandemic, younger people and those who are unvaccinated are being impacted while the hospital system is being pushed to the brink.
Recently, Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) President Belinda Wilson said she believed schools should reopen in the coming weeks as planned, but added that a comprehensive strategy must be implemented for safety.
“There must be clear safety protocols, class sizes must be decreased and there must be proper signage, adequate ventilation for classrooms, the use of masks, PPEs (personal protective equipment) for teachers and the sanitisation of classrooms throughout the day,” she said recently.
“Adequate cleaning supplies must be provided for the janitorial staff and if the face-to-face model is going to be used, then six-feet distancing must be implemented throughout the schools,” the BUT president added.
“The timetable and based on the allocation of periods for each subject must be reviewed. If the Ministry of Education is going virtual or using the hybrid or blended model, then it must utilise proper adequate technology.”
Schools first closed in March 2020 amid the first wave of the pandemic but were later reopened in a phased approach after the summer break last October.
In April of this year, the Ministry of Education reported that there were suspected COVID-19 cases reported in a number of New Providence’s public schools.
The next month, officials announced that public schools would return to virtual learning once again after cases started to climb in the country.
Comments
carltonr61 2 years, 8 months ago
Gates and his deranged followers here don't care. That's why his kids and wife ran from him.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 8 months ago
amazing. You would think that back in December they would have come up with some benchmarks and would now just have to agree that ok, the benchmarks fit the scenario (or vice versa), the action steps and contingencues were all hashed out in 2020, they still look like reasonable actions so... we just follow the plan.
carltonr61 2 years, 8 months ago
The vaccine cure is worst than the disease. Around the world are medical reports of harms risk to childrens hearts. Children are the least at risk. But they keep on manipulating and inventing the dynamics to support their jab. One thing is certain there are more cases after the jab than at the beginning or pre vaccination. The tracks have left the train it is bogged down in sand.
whogothere 2 years, 8 months ago
The risk to children is so minimal it there should be no discussion...
Plus Mask on kids is just a disaster...tragic..
JokeyJack 2 years, 8 months ago
Schools should remain closed. Kids cannot learn in the mask and face-shield hyper-fear environment. It is a waste of time. Plus there are no jobs for them when they graduate anyhow, not even abroad. The world is over. Stay home and do nothing. Doing anything means risk, and that is not legal. Cars should be illegal - don't people die in them?
Keep everything closed. Lock it all down, even the food stores and clinics. Everything. Let's build a super big prison, capable of holding 350,000 people and put the entire Bahamas in it. Or have we already done that?
whogothere 2 years, 8 months ago
lol it's colonisation all over again...just like Columbus came with the beads and conned the lucayians so too did the WHO and PAHO with restrictions and vaccines; we've handed away our freedom and our minds for something that kills 3x less people than Kentucky fried chicken and Mac N Cheese...
carltonr61 2 years, 8 months ago
Here we go again. Recall the Iraq pre invasion. The hospital with the missing incubaters that Saddam ripped from the wall and carted off to Iraq that post invasion turned out to be malipulation. It was bounded into our heads as cruel and inhumane. Thesame MSM is showing thousands of infants and young children dieing from Covid. Just in time for our loving dictator to spread this fear lie to force child vaccination. Vaccine in time for forced inoculation invasion shock and awe, but the nuclear allegation by the media for two million dead Iraqis turned out to be just Hollywood play with your head. Dead children shock and awe media blitzing has already been recorded before the deaths.
TalRussell 2 years, 8 months ago
Educators at schools — Reopened across Globe — have deaded within hours each other — From Covid-19 — What exactly will be the — Magic number of educators goin' has to — Deaded — That is goin' to be — statistically acceptable to education minister Jeff's — Tolerance — yes?
whogothere 2 years, 8 months ago
Sorry - but kfc and Macdonald’s pose more of risk to children’s and teachers health than the classroom covid...in fact more children have been hospitalized and killed because of gun violence than of covid. Give it up..
tribanon 2 years, 8 months ago
Children being forced to wear a mask in school are being both emotionally and physically scarred for life, especially the younger ones. High anxiety, difficulty breathing and lack of ability to see facial cues are also serious impediments to the learning process while wearing a mask in the classroom.
carltonr61 2 years, 8 months ago
MSM already running fear of unvaccinated kids killing teachers. Vaccines arrived by rassin from the USA just in time to poison our grandkids. Let leaders grand daughter get the vaccine first at John Bull. Tribune grand child died fron experimental vaccine now it is our time.
ohdrap4 2 years, 8 months ago
I told someone online this evening that I feared the vaccinated who could be symptomless and give me disease.
She insisted that the vaccinated are immune and cannot transmit disease. Amazing that people still believe that when the cdc, oxford have now admitted that all the vaccine may do is flatten the curve.
Then I heard an australian doctor on youtube saying next year they may have vaccines available for children as young as 6 months old.
Renward says herd immunity by December when the Cacique of astra,zeneca said delta variant made it impossible.
JokeyJack 2 years, 8 months ago
It's very very sad, but at least the price of apartment rents will go down.
John 2 years, 8 months ago
So are the vaccines creating heard immunity or vaccine dependency? Seems like the more people are vaccinated, tge more are testing positive for Covid. And whilst they (medical talking heads) tell you that hardly any vaccinated people are getting sick, being hospitalized or dying from Covid, more vaccinated persons are testing positive ( now that they are being tested again). So these vaccinated people are super spreaders to the rest of the population. And now it is becoming apparent that a third dose of the vaccine will be necessary and probably another within six months of the third. Do the greatest threat to unvaccinated persons is vaccinated people and not the delta variant. So will the population move from Covid fatigue to vaccinated junkies?
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