Dear Editor,
Finally, schools have reopened their doors for full engagement by students, particularly at the secondary school level except for Grade 7 students while primary school students and nursery pupils are being engaged virtually and/or on rotation.
This is a welcomed move by the Ministry of Education since our students have been out of school for at least 18 months.
Editor, that translates to mean at least 18 months where many school-aged children have not benefited from any meaningful academic engagement. This would be the case specifically for those students who reside in the hinterland communities.
During the pre-COVID era, it was no secret that those students and their teachers did not benefit from the same quality of education delivery nor have access to the same facilities as their counterparts residing in coastal communities.
Editor, one can only imagine how the circumstances of our Amerindian students and teachers were tremendously exacerbated when the COVID pandemic began and schools were closed in March 2020.
In some of these communities, there is no stable internet connection to support online learning and in many, there is no internet connection to begin with. With initial COVID protocols causing schools to close and prohibiting gathering, these students were left without receiving any teaching or instruction. Globally, according to UNICEF, 1 in 3 children did not have access to remote learning. If we were to look at Guyana in isolation, I am sure the statistics would be more devastating.
Despite, the commendable and widely appreciated efforts of the Ministry to produce worksheets and give to each student, as time went by, more and more Guyanese realised that the worksheets did not provide the type of engagement that the children needed especially since they were physically away from school for such a long period and could not benefit from face-to-face teaching.
This lack of engagement and being out of school has resulted in an increased number of children dropping out of school with some taking up child labour while others suffered severe learning loss evident in the examination results we have seen. So basically, our students were not learning as they should and at worst, they were not learning, period. This is a dangerous position for any country, especially one such as Guyana that is on the cusp of monumental development.
Editor, it is not beneficial for our students to continue remaining out of the classroom, the realities of the impact of COVID, I believe, justify the decision to reopen schools. Also, based on the science available, schools have not been proven as a contributing factor to increased transmission of the virus. This is according to the UNICEF organisation.
With that being said, it seems as though the adult population needs to take the blame for contributing to the transmission of the virus especially with the increased numbers, we are now seeing recorded daily in Guyana. This can clearly be attributed to the many parties and gatherings held over the Christmas holidays organised and attended by none other than adults. Editor, Guyanese need to adopt a responsible approach to handling COVID and to think about how our actions can impact our children’s growth and education.
I commend the Ministry on its decision. It must have been a tough decision to make but it was bold and the correct decision nonetheless. All that is needed now is to maintain a safe environment at schools and for parents and other relatives to conduct themselves in a way that will reduce the spread of COVID-19 so that the school doors can remain open and let our children be educated as is their right.
Sincerely,
Maureen Matthews
