Berbice schools to be fumigated before students, teachers return

Schools in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) will be fumigated in preparation for the return of students and teachers on June 15, Region Six Chairman David Armogan said on Friday.

The Education Ministry recently announced that both the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC) examinations would commence later this month; and Armogan has said that, based on information he has received from the Education Ministry, all schools would first have to be fumigated.
“Those classrooms that will be involved in housing these children for the revision purposes, those classrooms will have to be fumigated. The schools will only be open for the National Grade Six and for those doing CSEC and CAPE. I have not seen any document, but I understand that they will be having fifteen students in each classroom, spacing them six feet apart,” the Chairman said.
The reopening of schools will not be for new academic instructions. It is being presumed that the students would have gone through the syllabus already.
Armogan said those who are in NGSA and CSES classes were expected to have been receiving information via the internet; but poor internet connection in some communities and the unavailability of that service to others have made that process a failure. However, the Chairman feels that most of the students would be ready for the exams.
Armogan has said that all of the teachers he knows personally have been in close contact with their students.
“The teachers also have an interest in these students too, because it will reflect on their performance. All of these teachers that I know have been engaging the students almost on a one-to- one basis by telephone or whatever other means, to make sure that they are pushing ahead,” the Chairman noted.
However, a student of the Berbice High School, who will be sitting 10 subjects at the CSEC, has said her experiences are somewhat the opposite.
“In most of the subject areas, you are not getting teachers sending work to you, but some teachers are forwarding links on past papers that you don’t have, so that we could work along and keep up with the studying; but you are not getting no feedback from some teachers,” she explained.