NASSAU, BAHAMAS Minister of Education Glenys Hanna-Martin said yesterday that the ministry intends to directly target some 8,000 students who were inactive on the virtual learning platform throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in order to design education recovery strategies for their learning loss.<\/p>\n
Hanna-Martins comments came as officials advised that the reopening of schools will be postponed for two weeks due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases. Public schools were set to reopen for hybrid learning on January 11.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Eyewitness News, she explained that officials are collecting the necessary data to track down those students believed to have been out of school during the nearly two-years-long pandemic.<\/p>\n
We are in the process of identifying who these children are and which schools they are registered in, with a view to targeting each child, Hanna-Martin said.<\/p>\n
Education officials are expected to meet on Friday to address these concerns and the way forward on several other key issues.<\/p>\n
Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) President Belinda Wilson said yesterday that it is understandable that the face-to-face component for the reopening of school has been delayed amid the new Omicron variant.<\/p>\n
The concern still exists as to how the thousands of students who have not accessed education for almost two years will be accommodated, Wilson said.<\/p>\n
In addition to the thousands of students, there are hundreds of teachers who were and still are unable to utilise the MOE virtual platform<\/p>\n
The Bahamas Union of Teachers awaits the plans as to how quality education will be delivered by all of our teachers to all of our students.<\/p>\n
In the initial rollout of the virtual learning platform, there were criticisms that it had shortcomings, including a lack of stability when thousands finally registered.<\/p>\n
We are still not convinced that the challenges and the glitches that have been experienced by teachers, students and parents, with the Ministry of Education learning management system, Wilson continued.<\/p>\n
We are not convinced that that has been properly addressed and corrected, to ensure that as we continue in a virtual mode that education will be successfully imparted to the thousands of students throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.<\/p>\n
She added that the union awaits the details to be garnered from the upcoming meeting with education officials and the plans to address all concerns.<\/p>\n
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EDUCATION RECOVERY: Some 8000 students to be tracked down and targeted in learning loss program - EyeWitness News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASSAU, BAHAMAS Minister of Education Glenys Hanna-Martin said yesterday that the ministry intends to directly target some 8,000 students who were inactive on the virtual learning platform throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in order to design education recovery strategies for their learning loss. Hanna-Martins comments came as officials advised that the reopening of schools will be postponed for two weeks due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases Continue reading