Covid’s strong impact on education

 

Excerpts from Jamaica Observer column published MON 6 Sept 2021

by Jean Lowrie-Chin

Trisha Williams-Singh, ECC Chair

Two organisations which give me great hope for bringing our children up to speed despite the pandemic, are the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) and the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf (CCCD). I was able to join Education Minister Fayval William’s Back to School Session for early childhood institutions in Region 4 and the guidelines presented by Executive Director Karlene Deslandes are thoughtful and thorough.

Well ahead of Covid, former ECC Chair Professor Maureen Samms Vaughan and current Chair Trisha Williams-Singh spearheaded programmes and standards that give Jamaican pre-schoolers a solid start. Every new parent should download the ‘First 1000 Days’ App developed by the ECC which gives a great deal of practical advice.

Similarly, as we listened to the Tashi Widmer (via interpreter Denque Wedderburn), Executive Director of CCCD, Chair Grace Lindo and staff members from the campuses in Kingston, Manchester and St. James, we were assured that their deaf students would be able to avail themselves of quality education. If you know of a needy child who is deaf, please consider offering them a scholarship to CCCD and watch them bloom.

Despite these valiant efforts, the data shared last week by CAPRI Researcher Stephanie Sewell is disturbing. In her presentation titled “Time Out – Impact of Covid-19 on Education” (available on YouTube), we learn that half of the households in vulnerable communities have no internet access, 20 percent have no suitable devices, paediatricians are seeing poor health issues and grades are falling.

She described the ideal conditions for learning at home: comfortable spaces and parents working from home who can supervise their children.

“The presence of all these variables as you can imagine in one home are more likely to be found among households in the upper socioeconomic quintile as compared to poorer households and especially multi-person households within vulnerable communities,” she noted.

She said that comparing the Grade Six ability tests of February 2020 and February 2021, there was an eight percent decline in the performance of students, with the average mean score moving from 60 percent to 52 percent.  At the secondary level, they identified a decline in the number of students sitting such examinations as the NCTVET and CXC.

But here is another worrying situation: “Apart from learning loss, we can see that school closures can also have an impact on other areas, such as causing weight gain and other diet related illnesses including diabetes and hypertension. Students have also been impacted by increases in hyperactivity, indiscipline, sadness, loneliness, frustration, and anxiety.” 

She noted that a group of Caribbean pediatricians have made a statement that our children “are on the cusp of a regional childhood obesity emergency and mental health emergency.”

They note that the situation “is exacerbated by the lack of or reduced access to guidance counselors and other in person coping mechanisms for students, higher screen time ... using online learning can cause issues to do with eye health and distractibility or lack of focus and even less emotional stability for students.”

In a previous study, CAPRI’s ‘Stress Test’, there were reports of Covid's impact on violence: “Pre-teen boys and teenage boys who had no devices were dropping out of school forming cliques, carrying knives, smoking, gambling and getting into fights. Girls are also at a higher risk of abuse and sexual exploitation when not in school.”

She acknowledged the improvements made by the Education Ministry, but urged the return to face-to-face classes as soon as possible. She recommends, “COVID testing regimes for teachers as well as students should be instituted; surveys of infection and positivity rates for communities surrounding schools should be undertaken and alternative locations such as church halls, community centres and other larger locations should be engaged to be used as classrooms to allow for social social-distancing as well as to reduce class sizes where possible.”

 While we wait for this third surge to end, she is calling for improvements to online learning, “for example, establish and support smaller groups of students, use the learning pods as a methodology for remote teaching, continue to expand the internet infrastructure and internet access across the island.”

At the event, Education Minister Williams said her Ministry welcomed the research, noting that significant efforts were made to provide devices to the most vulnerable students and assistance to teachers. She said that while face-to-face classes were not yet possible, “our focus in the coming year until able to get back into the business environment and even beyond that, is to ensure that those children who are not consistently engaged with the educational system that we know exactly who they are, that we make the necessary intervention for them and so at least by the end of the year we're hoping that we would have caught them up to at least where they were before the pandemic.”

Hope Zoo’s crucial role

One of the many establishments that has been severely handicapped by the pandemic is the Hope Zoo, owned by the Government of Jamaica and resuscitated through the kindness of Guardsman Chairman Kenny Benjamin. The Zoo was transformed into an oasis and pre-Covid, was a preferred spot for family outings.

Marketing Manager Patrice Levy pointed out the crucial role of the Hope Zoo Foundation, its responsibility for conservation practice, advocacy and research. “Conservation practice entails captive breeding, species reintroduction programs, Species survival plans and the use of zoo revenue for conservation programs in the wild,” she explained. “Conservation advocacy includes public engagement, promoting awareness, advocating stewardship, and fundraising.”

The Hope Zoo is a wild-life sanctuary which collaborates with National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) to rescue native species. Injured or orphaned animals are cared for until they can be released back into the wild. “Others with permanent injuries are given a new forever home here at Hope Zoo,” she says.

The Hope Zoo Foundation initiated the conservation programme for the Jamaican iguana, successfully housing and protecting 300 of reptiles for up to six years before releasing them back to their natural habitat.

 

Spread over 57 acres with a 65-strong team, there is enough space to distance and enjoy the surroundings. With the recent lockdowns, there is the need for funding to support the high cost of feeding the wide variety of animals. Big thanks to Nayana Williams of Lifespan water for contributing proceeds from her sales.