Brown-Burke calls for dedicated guidelines for face-to-face class resumption
Juanique Tennant / Our Today
Despite yet another virtual start to the 2021-2022 academic year, Opposition Shadow Minister of Education and Training, Dr Angela Brown-Burke says it is important to remember that the aim is to eventually return to face-to-face classes and as such plans should be put in place to guide said.
Arguing that she had not been hearing much from the Education Minister, Fayval Williams regarding how face to face schooling would operate amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown-Burke called on the minister to articulate what measures other than vaccination and mask-wearing would be implemented, to ensure the safety of in-person teaching.
“The vaccine is important for those who are eligible and where that is not, we still have to ensure that certain protocols are followed, ” said Brown-Burke during the House of Representatives sitting last Wednesday (September 15).
“If students are coming in you have to talk about screening, you have to talk about testing. You can’t have children coming face to face and not have those issues, also ventilation, hand washing and respiratory etiquette…we have to make sure we begin to talk about that.”
“You can’t have a country where you say that we have COVID but it’s safe enough for people to go to work and then you say it is not safe enough for school. It is the government’s responsibility to put in place those things to make it safe.”
Dr Angela Brown-Burke, Opposition Shadow Minister of Education and Training
In addition to the guidelines that would guide the resumption of face to face classes, Brown-Burke urged that a plan of action be implemented in the event a student becomes sick.
“If the child is sick, showing signs (of COVID-19) they need to stay home…and then of course especially for the school environment where we find students who might be showing symptoms that there is also the contact tracing and the cleaning and disinfection,” stated Brown-Burke.
Noting that her suggestions were not made up, but taken from guidelines implemented in other jurisdictions Brown-Burke urged the Education Ministry to conduct their research and identify the measures that would need to be implemented to ensure the safety of students and teachers once face to face classes resume.
Meanwhile, Brown-Burke also argued that once persons are allowed to go to work, school must also be in session.
She stated: “You can’t have a country where you say that we have COVID but it’s safe enough for people to go to work and then you say it is not safe enough for school. It is the government’s responsibility to put in place those things to make it safe.”
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