School term ended today

The Hilary term came to an abrupt end tonight.

In a late release, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw said the term ended today after representation to the regular pre-Cabinet Parliamentary group this evening.

The reasons cited were that Thursday and Friday were originally scheduled for the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Athletics Championships (BSSAC), which have since been cancelled, and school would have ended next week.

“We shall continue consultations with stakeholders as to the way forward in light of the escalated coronavirus pandemic,” the Minister said.

All indications pointed to school being held tomorrow after a stakeholders’ consultation on education today, which was followed by a release from the Barbados Government Information Service indicating that all “public schools (nursery, primary, special and secondary) remain open” and classes for the secondary schools would continue in light of the cancellation of BSSAC.  

However, social media was busy with posts from the teachers indicating they did not agree with the Ministry’s position and Barbados Union of Teachers’ president Sean Spencer also aired his views in a post on his Facebook page.

There was another post indicating teachers would take “two days of reflection starting from Thursday 19th March 2019” since COVID-19 was detected here in Barbados, a measure “geared at analysing the best way to weather his potential health challenge”.

“We anticipate that all 3200 persons in the education sector will participate in this exercise, which is designed to avoid the spread of COVID-19,” the post said.

Some parents on social media also indicated they would not be sending their children to school after Barbados recorded two positive tests. (PR/SAT)