Has the Government Quantified the Impact of COVID-19 on the Education Sector?
St. Lucia and rest of the world continues to battles with COVID-19, with numerous significant changes across multiple industries. However, the citizens who will probably have the lasting impact are the children who have had their education dramatically altered over the past nine months. The recent COVID-19 protocols that apply the education sector are the following: “Schools remain closed with special allowances for Sir Arthur Lewis Community College and other tertiary institutions to facilitate small group face-to-face instruction for labs and practicals on school grounds; Form 4 & 5 allowed face-to-face instruction for School-Based Assessments and labs; Grade 6 allowed face-to-face instruction on school compound.”
As discussed in this McKinsey report from June 2020, the education system was not built to deal with extended shutdowns like those imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers, administrators, and parents have worked hard to keep learning alive; nevertheless, these efforts are not likely to provide the quality of education that’s delivered in the classroom.
Ministry of Education Resources
From their home page at Ministry of Education there appears to be very limited information about how the resources the Ministry has available for parents, teachers and students. There was a COVID-19 action plan from March 31st 2020 and no further material has been posted since that date. Has the Ministry of Education provided any resources to the various stakeholders regarding how to handle the major disruption to the education sector?
In contrast Barbados’ Ministry of Education has been much more proactive with a very insightful resource on Teaching in the Online Environment. Why does the Ministry of Education in St. Lucia not have similar resources or is that too much to ask for? The following recommendations on online teaching from Barbados is very helpful:
Getting the most from students in a digital online space requires meeting their needs for connection, familiarity and affirmation. Facilitators should:
• Engage students socially at the start of class
• Create a warm, caring, affirming environment
• Establish rules (netiquette) for online engagement
• Avoid flooding students with too much information
• Require students’ real-time response for assessment via text/images/voice
• Make allowances for the digital divide (demonstrate awareness of how some students’ home environment/socio-economic status, could negatively impact their ability to access and or maximise online learning)
• Provide short breaks between some intense activities and include stretching exercises and bathroom breaks where necessary
• Allow students time to connect socially with each other utilizing the chat and or microphone (prior to the official start of class, during breaks or at the end of class)
• Facilitate breakout group activities utilizing features like Google Meet Breakout Rooms, Zoom Rooms, or by allowing students to collaborate in asynchronous environments for presentation during synchronous class times (students may be encouraged to utilize their own Zoom sessions, private Facebook Messenger Rooms or WhatsApp Groups to collaborate on their own time)
• End class with positive affirmations
COVID-19 Disparities in the Education Sector
From another McKinsey report in December 2020 which discusses the disparities in the education sector that have been exacerbated during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The following study from Curriculum Associates shows how significant the impact of students’ learning has been “diagnostic testing of students in person (whether hybrid or full time) suggests that last spring’s school shutdowns negatively affected all students, translating into more students entering school this fall who aren’t ready for grade-level work”
The pandemic has forced the most vulnerable students into the least desirable learning situations with inadequate tools and support systems to navigate them. Has there been any studies in St. Lucia to determine the impact to students? Many students in St. Lucia still have no access to the technology devices necessary for remote learning? How will these lower-income students ever catchup or are they doomed for the rest of their lives?
The impact is more significant impact on students in lower socio-economic classes who will remain the ones that will face the greatest challenges to catchup. From the McKinsey study “Students on average could lose five to nine months of learning by the end of June 2021. Students of color could be six to 12 months behind, compared with four to eight months for white students.”
However, in St .Lucia we have a Prime Minister who considers himself a product of Canada and not St. Lucia. He states “I am a product of Canada — I did my high school in Canada; both my kids go to school in Canada.” Why should we expect him to care about the impact of COVID-19 on the education sector in St. Lucia when this impact is minimized for his own family?
