Schools gear up for Monday re-opening |29 May 2021

Minister Valentin (centre) leading the press conference yesterday (Photo: Thomas Meriton)

By Vidya Gappy

All schools (both public and private) and professional centres are to resume in-person teaching for term 2, 2021 academic year, as from Monday May 31, 2021.

This was announced by the Ministry of Education in a live press conference yesterday.

In attendance to explain the new modality of operations were the Minister for Education, Dr Justin Valentin; the principal secretary for Educational Services, Dr Odile de Comarmond; director for health, safety and risk management, Regina Prosper; manager corporate affairs for SPTC, Mika Charles; and the policy analyst at the Ministry of Health, Dr Sanjeev Pugazhendi.

“Monday will be the day where the largest group of students will go back to school to start their second term. We seize the opportunity to thank all those who worked with us during the first term and now we are ready to start the second term. Once more the Ministry of Education is calling for support and cooperation from all. We salute the employers from the public and private sector who understand the new way the schools will be organised. It is clear that the fight against Covid-19 is a collective fight. Alone we will never succeed,” said Minister Valentin.

To the pupils and students, Minister Valentin expressed his satisfaction on how they demonstrated an exceptional behaviour during these exceptional times. “When we work together, we do things well. Even the staff at the MoE have performed exceptionally well to minimise the impact of Covid in schools,” he noted.

The minister presented his apologies to the employers on behalf of the parents who will have to adapt with the new timings of the schools and also urged the parents and teachers not to abuse of the situation.

The minister commended the support of everybody in understanding the challenges imposed by the pandemic.

“However, we acknowledge that we have accomplished some good work during the first term and the experiences we have gained during the first term will help us in facilitating all operations in the country. And I thank all our partners, the Ministry of Health, the SPTC for their continuous support.”

PS de Comarmond explained thoroughly the modalities for each school (see accompanying tables) and also announced that there will be no half term this term.

“We are urging the parents to contact their respective institution for further clarification. Child minding services will resume on demand from the parents. SPTC buses will be planned as before. We have not decided anything about holidays yet.”

Ms Charles noted that SPTC is all set to start its operation on Monday.

“We have worked on a card project to facilitate the movement of students in public and private schools (see photo) and by the third term we want all this service to become cashless. It is important for the students to understand that school buses have been available for the students’ use and they need to use them,” Ms Charles said.

All the cards have a specific time to be used. Regarding the safety in the buses, Ms Charles noted that all students should wear their masks throughout their journey and they have to behave well on the bus.

“On our part, all buses are sanitised after use and we will operate these buses at 80% thus not allowing standing in the buses.”

Ms Prosper noted that an exercise had been done with all the schools around the country. “The decisions being announced today were made after a series of assessments and evaluations in all the schools and a meeting with the head teachers. As of May 1 to now, we have registered 247 positive case among children from day care centres, crèche, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. We collected all the information and we are liaising with the concerned institutions. Cases have reduced significantly and most of the students who are currently in quarantine will already be back at schools.”

It is a fact that some parents did not send their children to schools for the first term, but all parents should write and inform the Ministry of Education if such is the case. “The school is responsible to send the lessons to the parents but not responsible for the performance of the child.”

Minister Valentin concluded by saying that the way forward is to prepare for any eventual third surge.

“Yes technology is something we all want to use but we are dealing with two contradictory attitudes. When we use online classes in private schools, everybody claps. But as soon as we start talking about online classes in public schools, immediately the cost element comes in play. Another issue we have faced is that a data provider gave extra data to the children, but the children never got the data as the parents used them! The way forward means a change in our attitude and culture. We have to synchronize our thinking and think impartially. Modernisation is the way forward. It is a collective effort and parents, schools other ministries will have to work together. In order to protect each other “annou met nou mask” and get ready for school!”

The Ministry of Education has reminded us that schools will start at 8am and end at 2.30pm at all levels. After school services will also resume upon demand from the parents.

Once again, we are all set to start a new normal with new ways and Seychelles NATION wishes all the children heading back to school a safe and fun journey.

School Opening Modalities – Term 2 starting May 31, 2021

Below is the modality of operations for the next two weeks starting May 31, 2021. Some schools will re-open with full capacity while others will maintain same modality as the first term 2021. Other schools have made some adjustments to the previous modality.

Please note that institutions will be communicating arrangements to the parents/students.

Caption:

Minister Valentin (centre) leading the press conference yesterday (Photo: Thomas Meriton)