BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 4th June 2021)-Schools in the Federation are expected to remain closed beyond the two weeks initially targeted as COVID-19 retesting of students and contact tracing exercises continue on St.Kitts.
Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris, during an address to the nation on Tuesday 25th May 2021, announced the closure of schools for two weeks in the first instance to facilitate contact tracing, testing and other necessary precautions consistent with the COVI-19 Prevention and Control Act.
Minister of Education Jonel Powell in speaking at the Prime Minister’s press conference on Thursday 3rd June 2021 indicated that community spread is the reason behind the extended closure.
He said his ministry has taken the decision not to resume schools for the purposes of face to face instructions for the remainder of the school year.
“This is as a result of-as I said- the community spread and the fact that we as a ministry do not think that the risk is worth it to open schools in light of everything that is happening, bearing in mind that we would be closing schools naturally at the end of this month.”
Powell said primary school students will not have end of term examinations.
“The result of this is that for primary school children, the curriculum reform that we have undergoing for some time now has allowed for continual assessment of those children throughout the academic year, and so they will not have any end of term or end of year examinations. Their performances will be based on the continual assessment that has taken place over the course of the year.”
The Education Minister then addressed what will happen at high school level.
“In relation to secondary schools, the last week, we would have naturally begun examinations concerning some of those students and so those students who would have been preparing prior to that even the last two weeks of closure through the online modality will still be able to write their common examinations.”
He said the ministry will indicate to parents and students the modality in which they would have that opportunity.
The Education Minister said fifth form students will be prioritized.
“We will also be prioritizing our fifth form students who are about to write the CXC examinations. A recent release from CXC would have indicated that those examinations have been pushed back in relation to their start date to the 28th of June, and so we will prioritize the preparation of our fifth form students in terms of face to face interaction for preparation and writing of those exams.”
He said the early childhood centres will remain closed until further notice.
“This again is as a result of the community spread of the COVID-19 virus and we are awaiting the results of further testing that has taken place and the advice of the Ministry of Health.”
Meanwhile, speaking at the National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC) COVID-19 Daily Briefing on Tuesday 1st June 2021, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws gave an update regarding the end of quarantine (14 days) testing for students of the schools involved in the contact tracing exercise.
She pointed out that the end of quarantine period requires two tests with one at the beginning of quarantine and then final at the end of that period.
The Public Health Team was slated to visit the Sandy Point Primary on Thursday 3rd June at 9AM to test primary students of grade 1 and 2. Students’ households placed in self quarantine along with teachers were expected to get their second test also.
Charles E. Mills Secondary (formerly Sandy Point) was scheduled to be tested at 2:30PM that day. Seven Day Adventist Primary was slated for Wednesday 2nd June at 4PM.
Furthermore, upcoming revisits for the end of quarantine testing are Washington Archibald- Friday 4th June at 7am, Basseterre High School at 12noon that day followed by Tyrell Williams Primary on Saturday 5th June at 10am.
Once negative test results are returned, the individuals would be discharged from quarantine accordingly.