EBENEZER--The School Board for Secondary Education SVOBE says only examination students will have regular classes; all other forms will continue with the blended learning approach come Monday, April 12.
This announcement was made on Thursday by General Director of the SVOBE schools Jacqueline Duggins-Horsford who informed parents/guardians of this decision via letter.
She said this had been decided for the SVOBE schools after reviewing the decision of Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) Rodolphe Samuel.
She said that to give examination students of the VSBO, HAVO and VWO classes ample time to prepare for their upcoming exams, the school has decided that these students will be expected to return to face-to-face classes starting Monday, April 12. This will also apply to all Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) five students.
It was assured that during this time all safety measures will remain as is, except for the recommended social distancing of six feet. “This measure will be lifted to allow more students in the class. However, desks will be separated to maintain the necessary distance,” the letter stated.
All other forms will continue with the rotational blended learning approach for the next two weeks. A breakdown of the division of groups for these forms was provided to parents/guardians.
The director said an update will be provided as to how these forms will be returning to school after the Carnival vacation break on May 10.
“As the best way to learn is face-to-face, we also soon hope to have all students back in class. However, as the amount of COVID-19 active cases continues to fluctuate on our island and [in view of – Ed.] the many gatherings our teenagers have attended during the Easter break, we hope that the two-week postponement from resuming to normalcy will allow us to keep our students and staff safe,” said Duggins-Horsford.
Parents/guardians were further encouraged, “Discuss with your child the importance of keeping themselves and by extension others safe from COVID-19 by adhering to the safety measures in as well as out of school.”
On Wednesday, Minister Samuel announced his advice for all schools to resume regular classes starting next Monday. According to Samuel, this decision was taken after the ministry took note that the country’s COVID-19 cases may not reach the zero mark for some time. He further stated that keeping students out of the classroom for much longer might put them at risk of falling behind academically.
