All schools to open today

Amid the challenges of the recent general election, Chief Education Officer Grace McLean says she expects that everything should be off to a smooth start for the reopening of the new school term.

"I think I can safely say that everything is in place for the new school term tomorrow (today)," McLean told The Gleaner yesterday.

"We have taken proactive steps from the beginning of December to prevent any setbacks that might have occurred as a result of the elections."

She added: "We had actually pushed back the reopening of school for four days to accommodate additional preparations after the general election, so we had cleaning up of various schools taking place last week and we worked really hard in getting the term off to a good start."

Minor challenges

McLean reported that there have been minor challenges such as the ministry not being able to review recommendations for principal appointments in time for the new school term. However, she reassured the public that arrangements were made and the school term would not be affected.

"I am not aware of any school that will not be in session and I'm really hoping that there are no such cases," she said. "From reports from the different regional officers, all schools should be in session, and tomorrow we'll be having some of the education officers visiting the different schools to ensure that everything is in order."