(Barbados Today) Classes will be fully online when schools begin the new academic year on September 20, the Minister of Education has announced.
The decision comes amid a new, strong surge of coronavirus infections, apparently linked to the highly contagious Delta variant which has affected more children. A number of schools, including the Darryl Jordan Secondary and Blackman and Gollop Primary, have been pressed into service as isolation centres.
“We believe, and after discussions this morning with the various representatives of the trade union movement, as well as the PTA’s [ Parent Teacher Associations], we believe that the time has now come for us as we approach the start of the September term to go fully online and therefore I want to announce that all classes will begin for both students at the public and private schools on the 20th of September but they will now be fully online now,” Education Minister Santia Bradshaw said in a video statement.
Over 100 students are now in isolation across the various centres, the minister said. But she explained that as the surge of COVID-19 cases continues more schools may be drafted to assist the Ministry of Health.
