Schools reopen nationwide, 1% under temporary arrangements – Minister

Education Minister Sonia Parag, has assured that all schools across the country reopened on Monday, with only one per cent of institutions operating under temporary alternative arrangements due to issues that could not be resolved within the required timeframe. She made the disclosure during an interview with reporters while conducting visits to several schools in Georgetown to observe the reopening and engage with staff and students. Speaking with reporters from the North Georgetown Secondary School, Minister Parag noted that stakeholders worked assiduously over the past few weeks to ensure schools are ready for reopening. “…meaning that we have functional washrooms, that we have water that is connected and flowing in schools, that gutters were not hanging, that the school environment is clean as well as furniture being available to all students and teachers,” she said.

Temporary arrangements

Parag noted that there are some 1200 schools across the country and all of them have reopened, though some are operating under temporary arrangements. For example, she said the Airy Hall Nursery School has ongoing construction and therefore, parents and other stakeholders were consulted on temporary and alternative arrangements for the reopening of the school. “The minor repairs did not prevent any schools from reopening, we ensured that those were completed and it was ready for reopening…but where you have major rehabilitation, it’s about one per cent of all the schools that are in a state of where we have [major rehabilitation] …but it does not prevent students or schools from reopening, we just have different arrangements,” she noted.