All children in Grade Six and those students in secondary school, except those in Form One (Grade Seven), will return to daily face-to-face classes in January.
According to a schedule released by the Ministry of Education, the new academic term will commence on January 3 (next Monday).
And as per this schedule, physical classes for the primary school children in Grades One to Five will rotate while all Grade Six children will attend face-to-face classes everyday.
Importantly, however, it was noted that if all children- that is, children in Grades One to Six- can be accommodated in a school with the appropriate social distancing guidelines, then all of those children can attend physical classes every day.
If not, primary schools will use a rotation system that may include some face-to-face classes and online learning. In either case, however, children in Grade Six will be given preference to attend classes everyday.
These Grade Six children are scheduled to sit the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), Guyana’s secondary school entrance examination, later in the year.
Meanwhile, it was noted that all secondary school students, except those in Form One, will be required to attend face-to-face classes every day. There will be no rotation and no online classes will be offered.
These students are those who are eligible for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, being administered to adolescents.
Some students in Form One, however, cannot receive these vaccines and as such, they will not yet return to full face-to-face classes. Classes for these Form One students will begin on January 10.
But, if there is adequate space to accommodate all secondary students in a school, then they too can attend face-to-face classes.
Otherwise, classes for these students can be held on a rotational basis and only these secondary school students may attend online classes.
If parent choose not to send their child to school, then those parents must ensure that their child/children are meaningfully engaged at home using resources provided by the Ministry of Education.
The Education Ministry said that learners returning to school must santise as often as possible and must wear their facemask continuously when attending face-to-face classes to protect themselves from COVID-19.
It has also been recommended that learners aged 12 years and older must be fully vaccinated.
For nursery school children, classes will be held on a rotational basis if all of the children cannot be accommodated in accordance with adequate social distancing requirements.
If these classes are held on rotation, the school will inform the parents which group of children- whether year one or year two- will attend classes on which days.
And, it was noted that most nursery school will be taught four hours per day but schools using the shift system may teacher children for less than four hours per day.
