By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

 WITH national examinations set to resume on schedule this year, Education Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin said officials are now discussing how best they can accommodate students in quarantine.

 “We’re discussing that now,” she said when asked about the issue yesterday.

 “Certainly, we would want all of our children to be able to take examinations. If they contract it, it’s not a fault-based situation. So, we’re discussing now how we would deal with situations like that, but, of course, the undergirding rationale would be to do all that we can to ensure that our young people can take their examinations.”

 This comes as several schools reverted to online learning after reporting virus cases on campus.

 During a press conference last week, health officials confirmed more than three dozen COVID-19 cases among staff and students at schools in New Providence over the last several weeks.

 However, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has said the cases did not reflect a community outbreak and as such, did not warrant campus closures.

“COVID still exists in the community so you will have cases and you have seen an increase in the cases,” Mrs Hanna-Martin said of the numbers yesterday. “But from what I’ve been advised, they’re still reduced in terms of what we have seen historically during the course of this pandemic. So, we will continue to be advised by the Ministry of Health.

 “As the Minister of Education, I am motivated by the fact that we have to get our children back into schools. We have to get them in 100 percent, but, of course, we have to do it safely. That is where the Ministry of Health comes in.”

 Last year, the Ministry of Education permitted public school students under quarantine to sit the 2021 national examinations, but only those who met the criteria and had been approved by health officials.

 Eligible students at the time included those who tested negative for the virus and did not display any COVID-19 symptoms or those who were under quarantine but did not live with anyone who was COVID-19 positive.

 Data released by the Ministry of Education last August showed improvements in 2021 national examinations compared to 2020, with more students achieving A, B and C grades.

 The improved figures came after a grim performance in 2020, which saw worsened results compared with 2019 with fewer students achieving A, B and C grades and more students receiving D, E, F and G grades.

 However, there has been continued concern about the pandemic’s impact on education, with data showing significant learning loss, according to education officials.

 “The RFP for learning loss is now published,” Mrs Hanna-Martin said yesterday. “It is on our website, but it is internationally published for proposals to assist us with a platform that will allow us to diagnose and create an accelerated learning or catch-up programme for young people so that’s underway and that’s in the public domain.”