BY BARNABAS MANEBONA
Not all secondary classes have started throughout the country.
While schools mostly in Honiara have commenced classes starting early this week according to the education ministry calendar, this is not the case for many others in the provinces.
Movements of school Teachers and students is one main factor according to observation and interview.
One provincial school Principal, Thomas Koinini when asked for an overall overview of the current situation of many schools delaying to start classes as scheduled under the school calendar share three points.
“1. Teachers movement to school maybe delayed due to change in postings for 2022.
“2. Posting out school leaders from previous schools to other schools takes some time for them to settle down in case of change of signature to access school grant to facilitate all Coronavirus [Covid-19] related facilities that is required by Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development[MEHRD].
“3. Students movement which might also be due to school fee issues,” said Koinini.
“For now, some Teachers and school leaders are not yet at their posted schools.
“Teachers and our secondary school students are vaccinated, only the primary students are yet to be addressed.”
When asked if whether primary students that are not vaccinated will also be starting classes with those vaccinated on June 13, the School Principal said “Yes sounds like that”.
“Not really sure. Nobody seems to care about the vaccine. But the fact is why are they are not concerned about this?” said the school Principal.
On widespread suggestion that there should only be free-school without fee this year given the tight timeframe in the education calendar for 2022, Mr Koinini support the idea if government gives school grants.
“The reasons are simple.
“1. The schools year duration is shorten to only 27 weeks.
“2. The Ministry said that the school grant should be issued for COVID RELATED AND GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE SCHOOL. No much on physical setting of the school,” said Koinini.
Registration week for Secondary Schools and Rural Training Centres (RTCs) according to MEHRD’s ‘Revised Calendar for School Terms and Holidays 2022’ should had started and ended on May 23 to 27.
However, this is not the case as many schools in provinces such as at Western and Malaita when queried are still into registration process.
“Yes some schools have started but not properly yet as registration continues this week,” said responses.
MEHRD had earlier requested for Teachers to return to their schools in preparation for opening of Schools.
Forms One to Six, Rural Training Centres (RTC) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs) are to start classes as of early this week May 30, followed by Primary school classes of One to Six to start on June 13, while Early Childhood Education (ECE) will start on July 4.
In earlier Press Releases, MEHRD has considered a delayed and staggered approach to allow face-to-face teaching and learning after weeks of school closures. The decision to open schools is to avoid a learning catastrophe despite a second wave of Covid-19 prevailing in the country.
The other reason for delaying the opening of ECE centres and primary schools is that the children have not had their vaccinations because the vaccine for the targeted children of ages between 5 and 11 is not available in the country. On the other hand just early this week, Doctor Elizabeth Rodgers of the Ministry of Health and Medical Service (MHMS) in the Covid-19 radio Talk-Back show said that unvaccinated students will attend school as there will be a vaccination rollout for them.
MEHRD hopes that MHMS will roll out a vaccination program that target ECE and primary school aged children between May and July so that children can be vaccinated against Covid-19 before they return to the classrooms. The education ministry and Education Authorities will provide additional support to schools to be ready to open safely.
In supporting schools during this Covid-19 crisis in the country, MEHRD advice School Principals to use 60 percent of the grants on Covid-19 preparedness and response related expenditure. 40 percent of the grant received should be used for teaching and learning resources.
According to another joint press release, the Permanent Secretaries of MEHRD and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT) under the ‘release of first bi-annual 2022 grants to all schools and education authorities’ request all school authorities to ensure they prioritize the grants.
This is towards both on learning needs and basic COVID-19 commitments to prepare for the opening of all schools.
The decision to open schools was made by the Solomon Islands Government Cabinet following MEHRD recommendations of the dates that Schools, Rural Training Centres and ECE Centres would open for the 2022 academic year.
