 Schools across the island have been closed since 22 January 2021, operating exclusively via online multimedia platforms as part of measures instituted to curtail the spread of the coronavirus in country. Chief Education Officer in the Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations, Dr. Fiona Philip Meyer, is reminding members of the public to follow the protocols and keep St. Lucia safe. We are just coming to you as a Department of Education, looking at school supervision and wanting to join with the Department of Health in reiterating the significance of following the protocols, the significance of being vigilant regardless of who we are. So this is an appeal to our teachers, our students, our parents, the wider community that we are reminded constantly to do the right thing to help our nation and so this appeal comes because we appreciate that everything that happens in the nation impacts education, impacts our children and so we continue to say parents be vigilant, parents be observant. The Chief Education Officer adds that while the students continue their learning remotely, given the current situation, attention must be given to the student's holistic well-being. We want to speak to also the mental well-being of our children. Inasmuch as our adults may have had several opportunities to engage with social activities, our students for the most part have not had that opportunity. So as we speak about mental well-being it is important that we observe our children, we note what's happening with them, we listen to them and as we continue as a Department to really enforce the protocols within the limited face-to-face interactions that we have, we encourage those online likewise to be doing the right thing, to be following their classrooms and to really do their best so that this time is not wasted but it really accounts for not only academic attainment but more the well-being of all of our children, staff and the wider community. Chief Education Officer Dr. Fiona Phillip Meyer