PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Rodolphe Samuel said during the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday that the ministry will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and make another decision on the way forward in three weeks.
He said that according to Collective Prevention Services (CPS) there are no recorded clusters of COVID-19 in schools in the one week since schools have reopened after the holidays. Only four incidents have been reported thus far; three teachers and one student.
“What we are experiencing is not only happening in schools, but across St. Maarten. The workforce is seriously being compromised. Teachers are reporting ill and students are also reporting ill.
“The idea that many persons are talking about is online schooling. To go online, you would need teachers to teach. If the teacher is ill the teacher cannot teach online.
“The same situation approach applies to what happened last school year. If the teacher is ill or if the student is ill, the class stays home.
“This approach makes it possible to keep schools open even in challenging times like these,” said Samuel.
