The Ministry of Education on Saturday said it has already located at least 538 students who were absent from schools for the recent National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) mock exams through the launch of its countrywide ‘Operation Recovery’ campaign.
According to the Ministry, Education Officers conducted visits across 538 homes in regions One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Nine and Ten, where these students where located.
Reports had yet to be received from officers in regions Seven and Eight, the ministry added.
During a phone interview yesterday, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand told Sunday Stabroek that some 1,300 grade six pupils did not return to school to sit the NGSA mock exams. She reminded that the Ministry has allowed school attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic to be optional but children who are kept at home have to continue their studies with the guidance of parents or guardians. But with the 1,300 absentees recorded for the mock exams, the ministry has started a programme to track down these students and have them return to the school system.
Manickchand said that the ministry decided to check to see whether these students are being homeschooled or still have the option of schooling in their homes.
On Thursday, the education Ministry announced the launch of ‘Operation Recovery’ within the 11 Education Districts to find pupils who have been continuously absent since school re-started and those who have missed the recent NGSA mock examination.
In a release, the Ministry explained that the initiative would see the involvement of Education Officers from the Central Ministry and within the Education Districts along with regional officials and community activists fanning out into communities to locate these pupils.
It said the Ministry would be assessing how it could assist the students with returning to school.
Manickchand told this newspaper that during a visit to Region Three on Friday, she met with many parents and students who had varying reasons for the absenteeism. Manickchand said that the ministry learnt that some students did not leave the education system but rather entered the private school system. She said that others have migrated to either foreign countries or they moved from one district to another. She said that these students were tracked down by help of the schools, which provided names and addresses. The ministry then carried out the task of searching.
Other students were absent because of circumstances at home, including the ailment of parents or guardians, causing the pupils to leave school to look after their family members. She shared that in one instance, a student shared that his grandmother was sick and could not afford to send him to school. Some cannot leave younger siblings alone at home because their parents have to work. A student told the Ministry that he could not go to school because he babysits his younger siblings while his parents were at work. Others have financial constraints which hinder their ability to reach to school.
Manickchand said that the Ministry is working to understand each situation and offer a solution that will see the students returning to school. She added that in some cases the students were actually pulled out of school because of negligence on the parent’s part. She said that some parents have not been as observant or showed care for the pupils to be in the classrooms. These cases are also being assessed.
In announcing the results of its efforts thus far on Saturday, the Education Ministry said in a statement that the required assistance and access to welfare officers has since been provided for some students, while the ones who said they couldn’t attend school because they were sick, will be returning to the classrooms.
The Ministry previously said that scientific data gathered from studies done in countries around the world show that the long school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to an increased rate of school dropouts and tremendous learning loss, unless countries take urgent, practical measures to mitigate against it.
It also noted that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) predicts that unless practical measures are taken urgently this generation could lose more than 17 trillion dollars in earnings in their lifetime, have their academic growth stunted and their mental health severely affected. As a result, the Ministry said it remains committed to keeping school doors open and having as many pupils back in school. Some measures that the ministry believes will mitigate against the predicted loss of students includes teaching and learning from a consolidated curriculum, the provision of textbooks, re-training of teachers, using technology in the classroom and ‘Operation Recovery.’
According to Manickchand, the new initiative is sort of like an expanded welfare programme. She said that the system they hope to create is one where if a teacher notices that a student is absent for five consecutive days, they report this to the head teacher, who then informs the Regional Education Officer, and the student is then found and an investigation into the absence is carried out. She was confident that solutions can be found between the parents and the ministry to ensure that these students’ education is not obscured because of the pandemic and other social reasons.
Further, Manickchand expressed gratitude to individuals, religious organisations, non-governmental organizations and other bodies who have reached out to the ministry to help in achieving its goal of getting every student back into schools. The Minister noted that ‘Operation Recovery’ will be an ongoing exercise and organised partnerships with said bodies are underway.
Chief Education Officer Dr. Marcel Hutson added that the primary education is a fundamental level and the new campaign is not an attack on parents but a way to ensure that students get access to a sound education.