The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) is urging school administrators to implement their Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).
Deputy Secretary James Bosamata made this call during the Ministry’s weekly radio program.
Bosamata says it is now time school administrators implement their SOP. Bosamata says parents should not panic but must always listen to advice provided by relevant government authorities.
“Schools in the Honiara city boundary including SINU, USP campuses, Technical Vocational centres must remain open”, Bosamata says.
He says schools instead must now implement their incidental SOPs against COVID-19. Bosamata says this includes wearing of masks, regular use of hand sanitizers and maintaining of social distance
“Suspend all daily and weekly big gatherings such as school assemblies, sports and so on”, Bosamata says.
The Education Deputy Secretary says all Early Childhood and Pre-Primary classes within the Emergency zone must also remain close.
Bosamata reinforce this call following the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday.
He urges supervisors of the classes to take heed of the notice and suspend ECE and Pre-Primary classes until lifted by the government.
At the same time Bosamata says graduation ceremonies might possibly be affected especially for schools in Honiara. He says schools outside of the emergency zones however can organize school graduations or student’s achievement events.
“But remember to promote at all times health and hygiene practices”.
Schools have less than eight weeks to go before the final school term ends.