The resumption of face-to-face classes for Years 1 to 7 will be dependent on teacher attendance.

The resumption of face-to-face classes for Years 1 to 7 students will be dependent on teacher attendance.

Minister for Education, Premila Kumar says they are monitoring teacher absenteeism and if they see that most teachers are in school, then there is no reason why they should not open Years 1 to 7.

Only Years 8 to 13 have resumed face-to-face classes this week, and the Ministry is yet to make a decision on the return to classrooms for the remaining Years.

Kumar says they haven’t made any announcements yet in case there was high teacher absenteeism in secondary schools.

“The reason why we sort of delayed the opening from Year 1 to Year 7 was that if we needed more teachers because of teacher absenteeism in secondary school, we could have used primary school teachers, but that was not necessary. The heads of schools were managing the schools and things were going as planned.”

Kumar says they are currently monitoring the situation in secondary schools and have seen that while the attendance is good, there aren’t many positive cases.

She adds they will make an announcement soon.

Kumar is currently in the Northern Division, visiting schools, observing their COVID safety adherence and compliance, and speaking with teachers and school management.