 The Ministry of Education has detailed plans for the reopening of schools on Monday, January 11, 2021 following the abrupt closure due to community spread of COVID-19. After an extensive consultation process, the ministry decided to open the second school term and allow students to return to the classroom. However, the opening is being guided by strict protocols. During this week, January 4 to 8, teachers are at their various schools for school term planning, meetings with the chief medical officer and to receive psychosocial support facilitated through counselors. Minister for Education Honourable Dr. Gil Rigabet on Monday, January 4 addressed a meeting of stakeholders, including district education officers, principals and head of departments. Minister Rigabet spoke to the consultation during a live update to The Nation on Wednesday. The meetings held over the last two or three days in particular have been very detailed, outlining the various education-specific protocols and, very importantly, the education sector continuity plan in a COVID-19 environment. The latter is the outcome of a joint effort by the many partners aforementioned who participated meaningfully. I wish to thank the very hard-working caretakers, watchmen, groundsmen and janitors who have had to work exceedingly hard to guarantee the readiness of schools to receive students. The opening of the second school term is being guided by the Education Sector Continuity Plan in addition to guidelines contained in the OECS Continuity of Learning Plan, as well as regulations by the WHO and UNICEF. Chief Education Officer Dr. Fiona Phillip-Mayer informed that as with the reopening of school in September, all small school populations will operate using the whole school approach. We do have 34 schools that will be still on the alternate day approach because of the numbers that they have as part of the phased reopening of school. But what we've endeavored to do is to ensure that all of those students in those 34 alternate day schools get at least three days of face-to-face instruction complemented by online presence and a virtual learning platform. So those individual schools will be contacted by the administration of the school as to their students and when they can come. Important for the public to note is that where possible, we have endeavored to ensure that all students of kindergarten, grade six and from five return for as many face-to-face days as per the cycle. And that I speak to in relation to those 34 schools. You would note that many of those are secondary schools. We have in district seven, for example, only one school and in district eight only one school in that category. But as compared to say district two that has very large school populations, we have more schools using that method of instruction. In the classroom, students will be seated three feet apart from each other. They are to wear face masks and or face shields. Chief Environmental Health Officer Parker Ragnanan says there will be mass breaks as determined by teachers. He outlined the other safety measures. We encourage that hand sanitizers be placed at strategic locations throughout the school. And therefore, indeed assessments will have to be done to determine the best places to have these sanitizers located so that maximum use can begin from them. It is important for surfaces, the buildings, the floors, the desk, the classrooms to be adequately cleaned and sanitized on a daily basis. So we expect that there's going to be intermittent disinfection that takes place. However, at the end of a full day of school, we expect that there's going to be a full scale cleaning and disinfecting exercise that takes place. And as part of that, we encourage schools to educate the cleaning personnel, the janitors and so forth as to how to use the disinfectants and the cleaning agents is important to know. We also encourage schools to develop a very clear cleaning schedule, who is to clean, where they are to clean, how it's to be cleaned so that everybody is guided. And therefore, we have an effective cleaning and disinfecting exercise taking place within the schools. Sporting activities at schools are limited to small group physical engagements and non-contact sporting activities. Additionally, mass crowd gatherings at schools are not allowed and students and school staff upon the return to school premises must adhere to the established protocols, which include temperature checks, sanitizing of hands, physical distancing and the wearing of masks.