The goal of our Education System is to deliver a high-quality education in the curricula to our young people, so they have a foundation for lifelong learning to utilise the opportunities presented to them for attaining happiness in their everyday lives. It is accepted by all, notwithstanding disagreements over what is contained in the curricula, that the education system satisfies a most critical function of a modern state.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the operations of the education systems of most countries in the world, since, generally, their curricula is delivered in face-to-face classrooms where the probability of transmitting the virus increases exponentially. While there are the protocols of social distancing, no-contact, masking, hand washing, and coughing into elbows, it would be unrealistic to expect normally high-energy youngsters to follow them rigorously. In the first year of the pandemic, the schools here and abroad were either sporadically closed or remained open on a rotating basis, with adjustments for distancing and other protocol demands.
Here, as in New York City, the Government has announced a fixed date for school opening, here Sept 6 and there Sept 13, but has made allowances for the specific demands of particular schools. On August 28, it was announced that they would completely reopen 92 schools across the three levels, with the remainder– 846 – operating on a rotation basis until the vaccination rollout and other mechanisms are completed. Of the 92 schools to be reopened, 41 of 348 will be at the nursery level, 44 of 413 at the primary level, and 7 of 126 at the secondary level. Guyana’s student population is approximately 26,000 at the nursery level, 80,000 at the primary level, and 64,000 at the secondary level, for a total of approximately 170,000.
But yesterday it was announced that, upon advice of the Ministry of Health, all secondary schools will not be reopened for face-to-face classes until students have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine -meaning they must receive two doses 3-4 weeks apart, with an additional 1-2 weeks after the second dose. Since this programme began at some Georgetown schools on Sept 1, at the very best, face-to-face classes will not begin until sometime in October. It will be later on a rolling schedule for other secondary schools. The status quo remains for nursery and primary schools with rotation, take-home work materials, and virtual classes.
Obviously, these arrangements are logistically very complex to execute with any level of success, and, as such, need the cooperation of all the actors in the system. As such, it is very unfortunate that the Guyana Teachers Union pulled out at the planning stage, and have now openly announced they will call upon their members not to participate in any face-to-face class sessions, but to go on a strike. It is therefore unlikely they will conduct any online classes. What this means is that our students will be denied the opportunity to complete even the “consolidated, tightened” curricula that was prepared by the Ministry for such emergencies, to keep the students on line for the CXC exams that are taken at Grade 10 and Grade 12.
This is not to say that some of the concerns might not be valid. For instance, it is now known that the COVID-19 Delta variant can be transmitted by unvaccinated and even vaccinated students who may be asymptomatic. The challenge would be to ensure they do not transmit the virus to persons – especially the elderly – when they return home. But this and other concerns should be raised within institutional structures, with the aim of crafting measures to address them. In the case of the “home transmission”, teachers can drill students in the precautions they should take when they enter their homes.
For those teachers who refuse to be vaccinated, they will have to appreciate they should not be allowed to endanger the lives of their charges.
