 The nation's students returned to the classroom with the reopening of the second school term on Monday, January 11, 2021, after months of closure. The Department of Education, Innovation and Generations continues to engage all stakeholders within the education sector amid the fluid nature of COVID-19. Minister for Education Honourable Dr. Gil Rigabet, during a press conference on Monday, reiterated the importance of consultation, especially during this time. She called on all stakeholders to engage their respective leaders and heads of department, as they would have been part of the consultation meetings and the decision-making process. The sharing of information and decisions taken the Minister stressed is critical. On all of the engagements that we've had, Mrs. Eugene, who's the head of the school councillors, sits in on that meeting and she then would relay to her membership, her team, the councillors, that which pertains to them. In the same way, for example, Ms. Prince is the Education Officer for Early Childhood Education and sits in on all of our engagements and she too will therefore pass on to that information to both. Privates and public administrators or owners of what we call preschools or Early Childhood Education officers. In the same spirit in which, for example, Mr. Sergei, who oversees our special education institution, sits in on these meetings and then passes on the information and engages persons in his particular sub-sector. So I want to thank all of those team leads, some of whom I have not mentioned, for your full participation and I trust that in your own way too you will continue to engage with your sub-sectors. The Minister of Education emphasised that the safety of students, teachers and other school staff remain paramount and as such a number of measures have been undertaken to ensure their safety. One such measure is the boosting of the school's cleaning regimen. We have embellished, improved, emphasised our cleaning programme throughout the week. In fact, additionally for consideration by the Ministry of Finance is that a provision be made for extending the hours of janitors, caretakers so as to accommodate that additional cleaning and we will see that rule out in the new fiscal year. But in the meantime the concerns should be under way in which we should consider it. It is not that cleaning is reserved for one day a week but rather it is a complete embrace of the need to ensure a comprehensive cleaning, not that we weren't cleaning before but that the effort be amplified throughout the week. Education Minister Honourable Dr Rigabet highlighted other measures that have been undertaken to ensure all protocols are adhered to and safety prevails. Evidently to allow for us to adhere to the protocols that pertain to the transportation sector, we've had to consider the inclusion of additional buses so as to allow for us to meet that requirement within the transportation sector. Education Minister Honourable Dr Rigabet