THA Education Division in talks with stakeholders

The THA Division of Education is “treating with the relevant issues” on a new way forward for schooling during the pandemic.

The division’s secretary, Kelvin Charles, responded to questions from Newsday on Monday.

A decision is yet to be made on when the new school year will start.

On March 13, the Prime Minister announced the closure of all learning institutions to stop the spread of covid19. They were due to reopen on September 1for the 2020/2021 academic year.

However, community spread of the virus led Dr Rowley on August 15 to announce that schools would stay closed, possibly till December 31.

Contacted on Monday, Charles said: “We are in the process of treating with the relevant issues. We are working them through.”

TTUTA Tobago officer Bradon Roberts said the division met with key stakeholders, which included TTUTA, and preparations are being made to facilitate a shift towards online learning.

“Sticking it out to the point that school isn’t opened and we’re not doing any teaching would only harm our resource, as human resource is one of our most important resources for a country. So TTUTA is working with the division to see how best we can facilitate some level of education,” he said.

He stopped short of listing the initiatives, saying there are still some issues to “finalise and fine-tune.”

Roberts said while some teachers were already trained, others would receive similar training.

“There are some pockets of teachers who were not able to be trained and they are looking to have that sorted.

“However. what must be put in place, is some structure in terms of accountability for teachers, children and parents."

Otherwise, he said accountability would be hard to manage in an online setting.

Principals and teachers have discussed: what September could look like."

He added: “Considering everything, considering countries still grappling with what education would be like for them, considering that the division is trying their very best to get something in place and not just get something but get something worthy in place, I am comfortable so far."But he wants to see a set structure documented on the requirements of teachers, students and parents.

"To make it successful, we would need the full support of parents, children, the students and the teachers," he stressed.