Schools can reopen face-to-face in Jamaica. COVID will be a part of our lives for a long time. We need to set up systems to negotiate our way through this pandemic. If we have proper procedures in place, our fear of COVID19 will reduce, and our children can get back to learning.
SUGGESTED SYSTEM FOR REOPENING
- Reduce Student/teacher ratio- - lease church spaces - use 3rd & 4th student-teachers (stipended). - insure that teachers do mandatory tours of school premises, understand contact & contract locations, and where students congregate at breaks - teachers and student-teachers police premises hourly - equip schools with /sanitizers. Parents are responsible for the masks their students wear. However, the government must have suggested types to wear. - All students/teachers wear masks. (We are already doing it - enough hand wash sinks should be in place around school buildings. - Sanitizing station at the gate of the school staffed by employees/volunteers. All students must sanitize before entering school grounds - No parents go on-premises. Instead, they should leave students at the gate - Equip high schools with vaccination stations also - support parents with sanitizers - once students return home in the evenings, they should sanitize and change of clothes before entering home - intensify marketing/advertising campaigns to parents and the general public. - Authorize special transportation with sanitizers to pick up students for round trips. Set up a foolproof system - teachers should teach rudiments and remediation