Barbados (Barbados Today) – Officials from the Ministries of Education and Health will meet next week to decide whether the increased COVID-19 cases on the island will have any impact on the start of the next school term.
Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Kay McConney told the media on Wednesday that it was too soon to speak to any possible delay to the scheduled April 25 commencement of the Trinity Term.
“Right now it’s too early. We are currently getting the data. We have some of the data from what happened during the face-to-face school [and] we are now looking at the environment as it is now, and we will get back to the media next week and give you a full report as it relates to what the experience was during the term we’ve just concluded and what are our plans going forward,” she said on the sidelines of the launch of the Barbados Construction Gateway Training Initiative at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology.
In the past few weeks, the country has seen daily COVID-19 cases rising, with the increase linked to the presence of the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.
The latest results from 1,264 tests carried out by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory on Tuesday show 389 new cases. On Monday, there were 543 positive COVID-19 cases, on the heels of 211 cases on Sunday and 261 last Saturday.
Minister McConney said: “Of course, as we see the numbers go up we have to consult with our partners, the Ministry of Health, and we have to also consult with our other partners in education as well as we seek to decide what’s next and what’s best.
