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Fayval Williams
With less than a week to go before the start of the new academic year, Education Minister Fayval Williams says almost 200,000 students have already signed on to the ministry's online learning system.
In a statement to the House of Representatives Tuesday afternoon, Mrs Williams told parliamentarians about the three modes for the resumption of classes on Monday.
These are online through the ministry's learning platform, lessons delivered using the mass media and delivery of learning materials to students in remote locations.
"To date, 15,466 teachers and 190,352 students have already signed on and are using the system. This figure represents 32 per cent of students across early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary public and private institutions," she said, adding that work is continuing with the Early Childhood Commission to "onboard the early childhood practitioners."
Mrs Williams said 20,000 teachers have been trained on the Learning Management System to create their virtual classrooms.
She said the system is a cloud based system managed by Google and students utilising this platform should not experience capacity issues.
The education minister noted that practice books and special worksheets will be available at schools for pick-up during the first week of learning, especially for students who "live in deep rural parts of Jamaica and have to depend on printed materials only." Additionally, she said the students will get the printed lessons for two weeks in advance, while the completed worksheets will be picked up at established points for marking. She said teachers will be able to keep in touch with the students through text messages or WhatsApp groups.
No other options
Mrs Williams also responded to concerns regarding the reopening of schools, saying while the distance learning plan is not perfect, it is the only option at this time.
"We are in a pandemic and there are two choices facing the education system with regards to schools. Either you open school face-to-face or you open school with students at home. There are no other options," she indicated, pointing out that based on consultations, there is a "high level of anxiety about face-to-face schooling and so the only other option is to have children at home" while the teaching and learning process takes place through different platforms.
Student grants
In the meantime, the education ministry is to provide a $20,000 grant to 36,000 students towards the purchase of a tablet or laptop computer.
The ministry said the grant will go to students who are not on the Programme for Advancement through Health and Education (PATH).
Education Minister Fayval Williams said there will be a registration process and criteria for the selection of the students.
The ministry will shortly announce the start date for the registration process.