Ed. Ministry urges parents to get children vaccinated against COVID-19

Aug 24, 2021 News

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Ahead of September reopening…

Kaieteur News – In response to the majority of parents calling for schools to be reopened, the Ministry of Education has restated its intention to reopen schools on September 6, 2021.

The Ministry in a release said that it is compelled to support this call because of “what we are aware is happening to our students since the school doors were closed back in March 2020. We have seen our students suffer great learning loss and we have lost some of them from the sector who have essentially ‘dropped out’ of school. We have embarked on an ambitious exercise to find these students and bring them back into the formal education system.”
These outcomes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry, are highly undesirable and any circumstance or situation that promotes this must be addressed for any continuation will have long-lasting negative effects on our students, the education sector, the country and the global community.
Studies, the Ministry added, have also shown that the longer schools are closed, the greater our students will be affected. However, while schools were closed several initiatives were implemented by the Ministry to help students remain engaged in learning at home. “We are very proud of what we were able to do under the prevailing circumstances and challenges,” the Ministry stated in its release.
The Ministry had printed thousands of worksheets for each grade, which corresponded with the curriculum and what each child should have been learning if they were in the classroom. The Guyana Learning Channel undertook the production of recorded lessons done by local teachers on the various topics outlined in the curriculum. This content has been airing on the channel according to a timetabled schedule to ensure children across the grades are engaged. The videos were also uploaded to the GLC’s YouTube channel so that they can be streamed at any time.
Further, the Ministry’s website has been zero-rated by the major internet providers so that parents and students do not have to pay or use their data when accessing all of the learning resources that are available on the platform.
To assist the Grade Six students to write this year’s National Grade Six Assessment, the Quiz Me Platform was developed to allow pupils to practice examination quality questions. Grade Six pupils also received study packages containing textbooks, notes and worksheets for each subject and a special television series dubbed the “NGSA Booster Programme” where a video was created for each and every topic in the consolidated curriculum was aired.
“Our teachers also stepped up and worked to ensure they kept those students under their charge engaged in learning online as much as possible. We thank them,” the Ministry noted.
However, despite these measures geared towards the continuity of learning, the Ministry stated that “the fact remains that it was not enough and not as effective as face-to-face learning. Our students are suffering. Learning at home is not as effective as students sitting in a classroom with their teacher in front of them teaching a lesson. This is the reality.”
Noting the plan to reopen schools in September, the Ministry added, “We are cognizant that some schools will have different challenges and needs regarding a reopening and as such, individualised plans tailored for each school will be implemented to ensure the safety of our teachers, students and support staff.”
This plan, which will be informed by all the science and learning about COVID-19 including social distancing, sanitising and mask wearing will benefit from the input of teachers and the Parent-Teacher Associations of each school and will be announced in the coming days, according to the release.
Important in the process to reopen schools is the vaccination programme for pupils 12 years and over.
Taking note of the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States of America gave full approval for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, the Ministry stated that in May of this year, the FDA had expanded the emergency use authorisation for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to children 12 years and over.
Today, Tuesday August 24, 2021, Guyana is slated to receive its first shipment of Pfizer vaccines, a donation from the United States of America. This vaccine will be administered solely to the Guyanese population within that age group, according to the Ministry which went on to note that “while vaccination of children will not be mandatory, we are urging parents to consider the benefits that this vaccine will provide to their children and consent to the vaccine being administered to their children.”
Parental consent forms for this vaccine have been delivered to schools and can be downloaded from the Ministry’s website at: https://education.gov.gy/covid-vaccine.
Parents can also fill an e-form, which can be submitted to indicate their consent. This can be accessed at: https://education.gov.gy/PfizerRegistration.
In addition, if parents are unable to submit the physical copies, they can take a photograph of the completed form and submit same via WhatsApp to telephone number: 652-9144. Since the consent forms were circulated to schools and made available online, children, numbered in the thousands, have received consent from their parents to have the vaccine administered to them. “We commend them for making this decision and urge other parents to consider the benefits,” the Ministry added.
Teachers were also urged yesterday in a separate press statement to take one of the available vaccines since the reopening process will depend on how the adult population of the school respond to being vaccinated.
Parents, who choose not to send their children to school on the days they are scheduled to attend, will have the responsibility of ensuring that they are continuously engaged at home and, to this end, will be able to access all of the Ministry’s materials on its website.

 

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