Minister may revisit hours

Article by Carlos Atwell

As the hustle and bustle of the new school term kicked in yesterday, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw said she was willing to reopen talks on staggering school hours.

Speaking to THE NATION at Frederick Smith Secondary School in Trents, St James, as part of another tour of some schools which did not reopen yesterday, Bradshaw said she was all for anything to increase the efficiency of the education system.

“Communication is a large part of the problem. It should have been a conversation that took place at the level of the Ministry of Education, principals, the Ministry of Transport and Works, where we all sat together and determined how to stagger. And of course you would have to consult the parents and the teachers,” she added.

Bradshaw was referring to the failed proposal to change the opening hours of some secondary schools to 8 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. instead of 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., in an effort to ease traffic congestion. While some like The St Michael School, Lodge School and St Leonard’s Boys’ School had already adopted earlier hours, the proposal was vetoed as it did not receive enough buy-in from teachers. (CA)

Subscribe now to our eNATION edition for the full story.

For the latest stories and breaking news updates download the Nationnews apps for iOS and Android.