The Major Challenges for the Education System

There are six hundred and five schools across the country. A complete return to face-to-face instructions will take place in the new school year. Currently, ninety percent of schools have been given the green-light for in-person learning inside the classroom. While many are still engaged in hybrid education, Minister of Education Francis Fonseca says that they are faced with two challenges, and the ministry has to deal with the learning gap that has been created over the last two years of the pandemic.

Francis Fonseca

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“The challenge we have now, we have two primary challenges. One of course is making sure that all those students who have not returned to school that we find them, that we engage with them and their families and we get them back into the classroom. It varies from district to district, but I am not satisfied where we are yet with that. In some communities, there are still around sixty percent returning to the classrooms; in other areas, in the north it is over eighty percent or so. So we have a lot of work to do making sure that everybody feel safe and people understand and appreciate the urgency of getting their children back into the classroom. And then the second big issue is how do we recover those lost years of learning. Our children have been out of the classroom for two years. Yes we’ve done learning packages and virtual learning, but there’s no replacement for the classroom. So we have specific plans aimed at addressing those gaps that have been created over the last two years.”