By Dwayne Gibbs on Monday, 25 April, 2022 at 05:07 PM

With face-to-face classes set to resume on April 26^th, students, parents and teachers have been preparing.

Despite Covid-19 cases rising as high as 674 for this year, Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anton Best, said that due to the low fatality rate and lack of severity of this particular variant, classes should resume in person.

Minister of Education Kay McConney said she based her decision on Dr. Best’s advice deciding that teachers would return to the classrooms on Monday, April 25th. There they would be briefed by their respective school Principals and make final preparations within their teaching spaces to accommodate students the day after.

Principal of the St. Bartholemew Primary School, Anthea Gill, said they were essentially prepared apart from a few minor hiccups. She added that the main goal is having face to face classes back and that she was assured by the workmen doing minor renovations that everything was going to schedule.

Lionel Sealy, a teacher at the St. Michael Secondary School said his preparedness was based on a plan in place based on safety, production and the ability to understand that this is a circumstance that has to be managed with the highest level of care being exercised.

Toni Dyall, who has a daughter in class three at Sharon Primary, said whimsically: “The children need to go to school. I am happy that she is going back to school. In terms of being prepared for it, I am prepared now, but the amount of money I had to dish out today, I am not sure I like this plan anymore."

Juvita Seale whose son attends St. Alban’s Primary, said she is also on board with face-to-face classes resuming because it takes a lot of stress off of people who have to work from home. She said, “The only thing that I don’t like is that school finishes at two, three was already a stretch and two is a bit earlier now and this is a little too much for me.”