Hanna pleads for return to face-to-face classes

Lisa Hanna has suggested that the Government find a way to take the classrooms to students, who have been severely disadvantaged since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The St Ann South East member of parliament (MP), while speaking during yesterday's sitting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee, said that it is essential for children to return to face-to-face classes.

"Tablets are important, but if you give out tablets and digital equipment to students without supervision, and without the critical parental support or teacher support, it's not going to have the kind of impact," Hanna said.

Face-to-face classes have been disrupted since March, and although methods such as online classes have been employed, many students have not been attending schools.

"Our children need to get back to face-to-face learning. If we don't get them back to face-to-face learning we are going to have a serious learning deficit in this country," Hanna said.

She added: "Take them into the community centres, take them into the churches... If we can't get them into the classrooms, the classrooms need to go to them."

Dr Grace McLean, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, agreed that the students face great learning loss as a result of the disruption caused by COVID-19.

She said that the 'Yard-to-Yard finding the child' initiative, which is to identify students who are currently not engaged in the school system, is being funded to the tune of $95 million. She said that 560 young people and 120 guidance counsellors have been engaged to go into the communities to find students who are not online, receiving learning kits, or following lessons on television.

Despite the Government's policy indicating that the Pfizer vaccine should have been prioritised for an estimated 214,000 children in secondary school, health workers gave the majority of the 207,400 Pfizer doses administered to adults.

St Andrew East Rural Member of Parliament Juliet Holness fumed that only a small percentage of children in the secondary schools have been vaccinated.

"We are making no strides in getting our children back to school," said Holness, while adding that the adults should have been encouraged to take the AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson vaccines.