BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Barbados said secondary schools will reopen from June 8 to allow students to complete their Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) School-Based Assessments (SBA) and Internal Assessments for Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQs).
The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training (METVT) said it had been granted permission for secondary schools to re-open and all protocols will be in place to safeguard staff and students.
It said only those students who are contacted by their teachers will be required to attend school. Protocols for the safe reopening of schools have been devised and shared with all schools. These protocols have been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Teacher Unions and Principal Associations.
The statement said that officers from the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training will be visiting secondary schools with other stakeholders between June 2 and June 5, to ensure that all agreed protocols are in place.
Similar visits will be made to primary schools before the scheduled return of Class Four students on Monday, June 15.
“For these sessions, secondary school principals are expected to organize schedules for half-day sessions to minimize the number of persons on the school plant at any one time and also to allow for adequate sanitizing of classrooms.”
Schools were closed in March as Barbados, like other Caribbean countries, implemented measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) that has killed more than 370,000 people and infected 6.7 million others worldwide.
CXC has since announced that it annual examinations will be held in July.
CMC
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