Administrators at a number of primary schools in the capital city beamed with joy Monday as their students returned for face-to-face learning that was disrupted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The administrators said that they, along with ancillary and other staff, used the Christmas holidays to ensure that the schools were safe for students, even as a few parents were still not comfortable sending the children out at this time. In those cases, the schools said they made provisions for students who are still at home.

The Government had indicated that all primary and high schools would begin reopening on January 3, 2022. To get approval for the resumption of face-to-face classes schools had to receive a health inspection and COVID-19-compliant report from the Ministry of Health and Wellness. They were also required to submit copies to their regional offices.

At Clan Carthy Primary, Acting Principal Winsome Reid said it was so important to have her students return to school that she loosened the dress code for some of them whose parents cannot afford the uniforms at this time.

“We are extremely elated,” Reid said. “We understand the health risk, but the mere fact we are able to come out and see the children this morning in devotion is awesome. From last week we have been saying to the parents to let them come out, even if they don’t have uniforms. We said to them, even if they don’t have the physical education top, we don’t want anything to stop them from coming out because we recognise the learning gap. I told them to still send them.

“Quite a number of the students came out. We had a lovely devotion and I am just excited.”

To ensure that the students observe physical distancing requirements, Reid said she split one class in two and put markings on the school grounds to remind the students about the protocol. She also implemented a staggered attendance schedule for each grade.

Christopher Wright, principal of Holy Family Primary School, reported no challenges. He said he was so anxious to resume face-to-face classes that he arrived at the school early.

“We haven’t had any challenges so far and we are hoping that things will get better and better so that the students will be able to access the education that we want them to have. I have been excited since last week. This morning I was here from as early as 6:20 am to ensure that we received the students. When I came here there were three young ladies standing here and they were really happy to see me,” he said.

“I saw some children greeting the teachers, some who we wouldn’t have seen for almost two years. They were so excited. As a result, we are really upbeat. The teachers are looking forward to a good term and we just hope that things will remain as is, at the very least, or get better. Our current model now is Monday to Thursday face-to-face classes and the entire school will go online on a Friday,” he said.

At St Aloysius Primary School, Vice-Principal Merlene Campbell was elated that the resumption of face-to-face classes got off to a problem-free start.

“We don’t have any challenges right now, apart from financial challenges. What happened was that in December we had a test run and we did the end-of-year test in the same manner. They were here for three weeks doing the end-of-year tests,” she said.

Just under 165 students of Allman Town Primary, which has a population of over 600, attended the school Monday. Principal La-toya Nesbitt told the Jamaica Observer that despite the low turnout she was still elated that school is in session. Her only issue was that parents did not follow the designated times for students to come to school.

“Even though the parents were given staggered times, we had hiccups because we had a sort of overlapping at the gate. It was just the first-day teething pains. When I did my walk-through, the students were happy to be back,” Nesbitt said.

“What I find is that the turnout is low. We were expecting at least 300 students, which is about half of our population of 605. I believe there was some amount of hesitancy. So even though we met with the parents, they are still watching to see what is happening,” she added.