Recognising that the country’s education sector is one of the areas that has been largely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has indicated that a full return to face-to-face learning will take place in short order.

Addressing the House of Representatives on Thursday (February 10) afternoon, Holness stated: “The next time that I rise in this Parliament to greet with the measures you would see even further widening of the guardrails which would include a full return to face-to-face (learning).”

The prime minister said the decision to reopen schools follows the observation that the Government cannot continue to deprive the nation’s children of an education any longer.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and the resultant closure of the doors to face-to-face classes, the learning experience for both students and teachers has not been the same.

While valiant efforts have been made to transition to and normalise the idea of remote learning in Jamaica, access to the internet and smart devices has remained an ever-present barrier to online learning.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic remains an existential threat to the return of in-person learning, Holness defended the need to reopen schools, stating: “I shudder to think of the education loss and the impact it will have five, six, 10 years down the road if we don’t move very quickly to correct.”

The prime minister’s remarks on the nation’s possible education loss echo sentiments shared by the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission’s (JETC) report on the status of the country’s education sector, which was released in January.

According to the report, which detailed Jamaica’s learning crisis owing to the pandemic, “COVID has been a calamity for our students… and it has (been) exacerbated by the existing problems of equity. The cost of recovery will be great. The World Bank estimates that the total cost of recovery will be something in the order of J$2.5 billion annually for two years…” but it is an action the country must take.

READ: ‘A sector in crisis’: JETC report details Jamaica’s education pitfalls