Second Term School Re-opening just Déjà vu?

In January of 2021, the then Allen Chastanet led Government decided to re-open schools amid a post christmas COVID-19 spike which proved to last several weeks forcing the subsequent closure a mere week later.

In response, the Philip Pierre led opposition chastised the government’s decision calling it “simply irresponsible”. In a Facebook video address, he noted this was “especially in view of the presence of the new, more contagious UK variant. The Government should therefore keep schools closed until the length of time it will take to reduce the transmission rate to below 5 cases per week over a two week period or when testing is avilable at our schools”.

The, then opposition also released the below press release re-iterating opening school amid a high COVID-19 daily case rate ill-advised.

“On Monday January 11th, the Minister of Education allowed the re-opening of schools. In our view, this is incredibly poor timing for the re-opening of school, especially amidst a spike in the number of COIVD-19 cases. The reopening of schools took place under the following conditions:

– An increase in international travel during the winter season

– New variant of the COVID-19 found in the U.K., a major tourism market for Saint Lucia

– More movement during the holiday season Yes we believe that children should be in school, but not during a spike which was already occurring when the announcement for the new term was made. There should have been a delay in the reopening of schools, especially as the following has been discovered:

– Insufficient support given to schools to properly address the health and safety needs of teachers and students – Lack of consultation with teachers who know first-hand the experiences of dealing with education during COVID-19

– Teachers are expected to do temperature checks and sanitise

– No consultation with Early Childhood educators – No deep cleaning day at schools. A Saint Lucia Labour Party in Government would have done the following using monies which have been borrowed by this Government and which are essentially being used for elections projects:

– Reinstate the laptop programme;

– Provide mobile sinks to all schools;

– Provide soap, sanitiser and other disinfecting supplies to schools;

– Provide a health aid to every school;

– Provide special transportation to vulnerable children; asthmatic and other conditions which make them high risk for contracting the virus

– Expand the school feeding programme. This Government has handled this COVID-19 pandemic disastrously. It has failed to put the health and well-being of the people first and foremost. A Saint Lucia Labour Party will put you first. We need the Government to be accountable. We need the Government to care. Instead the Government seems lost, there seems to be no energy or capability to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is becoming clearer with each passing day that the only immediate solution is the removal of the UWP from Government.

It is usually said those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Now, no longer in opposition, has this government, forgotten its own advice? Have any of the above measures been implemented to protect teachers and students or are we just headed for another abrupt school closure?