Education Ministry examining September reopening of schools – Manickchand

The Education Ministry has taken a decision to keep all schools closed for the remainder of this academic year, as officials work towards a September reopening for all levels.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand informed in a briefing on Friday the move to keep classrooms closed was in keeping with advice from the Health Ministry. Only grades which were already operating in a physical classroom space will continue for this month and the remainder of the academic year.

“We have taken a decision based on the advice of the Ministry of Health to remain closed for the rest of this school year, which ends usually around the end of June [or] first week in July. We will therefore remain closed for the month of June, except for those classes that have already returned to the classroom,” she shared.
Manickchand pointed out that Government is looking to reopen schools by September, given that the vaccination rate increases to a significant percentage and there is some degree of normalcy in the population.
“If persons are responsible in getting vaccinated and utilising the only scientific and medical way of bending the curve of the COVID-19 disease, we are going to be able to resume a state of relative normalcy. We expect, therefore, to be able to reopen schools in September of 2021 to every grade level and we will work very hard to make sure that happens,” it was pointed out.

CXC dates impact
The Caribbean Examinations Council is contemplating whether to pursue the sitting of CAPE and CSEC examinations in the June-July timeline. This, the Minister cautioned, could significantly impact the National Grade Six Assessment sitting in August.
“We are also aware that the Caribbean Examinations Council is currently re-examining a decision that was made in January of this year that both CSEC and CAPE would be sat from June to July. We have many options on the table that could possibly change that timeline…When we fixed the date for the NGSA exams, we fixed that date consciously knowing what dates CXC would set their exams for and we made sure the NGSA was falling outside of that timeline.”
Manickchand added, “If CXC changes their date, it would impact significantly on our NGSA. We heard parents and teachers and students when they said that they would ready for those exams in August and we are going to fight very hard to try to deliver those exams efficiently and smoothly and in a way that is in our children’s best interest.”
In the meantime, the Education Ministry has been working to deliver the curriculum on other platforms, especially through online teaching, the Guyana Learning Channel, interactive radio instructions, and through the distribution of worksheets and other printed learning materials.
Just last week, the Booster programme for students writing the (NGSA) was launched to provide practice and lessons to students. This project features airings and rebroadcasts on the Guyana Learning Channel and is supported by other mediums, such as YouTube, other forms of social media and cable networks.
Classroom activity has been restricted since mid-March 2020 when Guyana started witnessing an increase in positive cases. Presently, Grades 10, 11 and 12 students and those from Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions are facilitated in a classroom setting. (G12)