Editorial | Get the education dialogue going

IT IS unfortunate that the principals of some of the 17 schools targeted for an early return to in-class teaching learned of their schools’ selection for the two-week pilot via the media, rather than being told by the education ministry. Whatever may be the explanation for this blunder, it raises questions about the communication strategies, if not skills, of Education Minister Fayval Williams, her technocrats and advisers, as this has the potential to weaken support for a project that makes sense and deserves to be backed.

Indeed, the cock-up further illustrates the need, as this newspaper has suggested, for a massive public, even if informal, consultation on the delivery of education in the era of COVID-19. The reopening of the brick-and-mortar facilities, we again emphasise, cannot be a top-down imposition.

There is little doubt that the Government has a compelling argument, and a likely receptive audience for its idea. But in making the case, it needs to be alive to the sensitivities of various stakeholders and be willing to take the public into its confidence. It has to be transparent and upfront.

For, as Mark Malabver, the principal of Yallahs High School, observed earlier this week, there are issues of genuine concern by teachers and parents that ought to be addressed by policymakers before the estimated 6,000 students of the schools picked for the pilot head back to their classrooms between November 9 and 20. But the process, as it had unfolded, we agree, is “untidy”.

“Up to this point in time, I have had no communication from the ministry at all about us being a part of a pilot,” Mr Malabver said. He expected that once his school was identified and selected for the pilot, he would have been informed and there would have already been “discussions and dialogue as to how it is this thing will be implemented”.

Mr Malabver, and others, would hardly be oblivious to, or callous about, the crisis in which Jamaica’s education system has found itself since the first case of the novel coronavirus was identified on the island in March. Schools, including Yallahs High, were forced to close and the summer recess extended. Last month’s post-summer resumption of virtual classes on Internet platforms is not going well.

Up to half, if not more, of the over 465,000 students enrolled in public schools do not access their online classes. Or, they do so only patchily. Mostly, these students are without access to computers or smartphones, or their parents cannot consistently afford broadband or other data services. They would be the most obvious beneficiaries of in-class teaching, although experts say that there are many others whose social circumstances would make the formal attendance at school of significant value.

Partnerships necessary

This is a crisis that cannot be ignored, lest Jamaica’s education system, fragile prior to COVID-19, falls into deeper peril. There has to be partnerships towards creative solutions.

Apart from the 17 schools identified for the pilot, the Government has identified another 56 schools, with 58,000 students, that it says can be reopened safely. It bases that assumption on geoinformatics mapping, taking into account how far students live from their schools, how many communities they have to traverse to get there and, apparently, the numbers of COVID-19 cases within their environment.

Nonetheless, despite many teachers being ready to return to the classroom, others are concerned about their personal health and safety. Similarly, some parents worry about sending their students to school.

These are genuine fears that will not be conquered by fiat and an absence of information. It has to be on the basis of frank dialogue, a fulsome sharing of data, and consensus between school boards, teachers and parents.

It requires, in other words, a very public consultation on education, which should start now. Education Minister Williams should ensure that what has happened with the 17 schools is not repeated with the 58 others she hopes will open their physical doors in short order. The education ministry has to hone its communication strategies.