By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Jeffrey Lloyd said there are approximately 20 to 25 schools on four islands that did not see students return to campus today for face-to-face instruction due to needed repairs.

Yesterday marked the first day for many schools in Abaco, New Providence, Eleuthera and Exuma starting the hybrid model where students report to campus for a reduced amount of in person instruction days. Ahead of a Cabinet meeting, the minister told reporters no issues were encountered yesterday.

He said about 30,000 to 32,000 students are being affected by the return to school.

The Tribune canvassed a few schools in Nassau with varying back-to-school experiences. Parents of students at Sadie Curtis Primary School complained of a lack of organisation and insufficient information provided.

Tuesday morning saw backed-up traffic and students lined up in front of the school. One parent noted being told to be at the campus at 7.30am to get on the line and students would be let in at 8, but that process did not happen until 8.30am.

Another parent of two students said the situation caused him not to report to work as usual that morning as he knew the process would take long.

“Look at the line — ain’t no one social distancing,” he said. “Police had to come here and two parents, they were rowing about time… They were about to have a little fight or what not because they wasn’t let people in the gate quick enough. They just start at 8.30.”

But the situation was different at CV Bethel Senior High School where there were no lines or a hectic atmosphere. Most parents drove by the school and watched their children go to the campus.

Bahamas Union of Teacher president Belinda Wilson said meanwhile that “the success or failure of the hybrid model is yet to be seen”. She reported schools in Exuma and Eleuthera opened “smoothly”, but there are several schools in New Providence that have not yet reopened due to needed repairs.

Meanwhile, Abaco schools have some issues, she said.

She also said: “The construction is incomplete and they also had a few positive cases of COVID-19. Class sizes are of paramount importance and the 6ft social distancing among other protocols. All shop stewards in each school are using the BUT Covid19 checklist to ensure the health and safety protocols are in place.”

Mr Lloyd expanded on why not all schools are ready to welcome students back to campus.

“There are two reasons why schools are not ready. Primarily because of COVID and as we know in 2020 our country went through periods of lockdown and curfews which restricted the ability of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Works to execute the repairs that had been planned,” he said yesterday.

“We also know that as a result of Dorian in 2019 this country lost approximately 20-25 percent of its revenue and as a result of COVID that came about in March 15, 2020 our economy was essentially flattened. This therefore imposed severe restrictive ability on the Ministry of Education.

“We therefore had to recalculate our ability to repair the schools and decided that we were going to emphasise only electrical plumbing and air conditioning because we simply didn’t have resources. Bear also in mind that during the course of 2020, our budgets in the Ministry of Education, our capital budget, was slashed three times again as a consequence of the Dorian effect as well as COVID-19. As funds became available we effected the necessary repairs.”