Plans for Reopening the 2020-21 Academic Year
In these uncertain times due to COVID-19, we have been tasked with determining under which scenario we will start the 2020-2021 school year. We also know that GIA families wish to make plans and for that reason, we targeted the end of June / early July for a decision and announcement.
We have been discussing three potential scenarios:
Onsite Learning--Open Campus with Significant Health and Safety Restrictions, 100% Learning Onsite
Online Learning--Closed Campus, 100% Learning Online
Hybrid Learning--Open Campus with Significant Health and Safety Restrictions, Learning Both Onsite and Online
Philosophically, we agree that face-to-face, onsite learning should be a significant part of any child's education. However, our criterion for reopening school rests on our ability to offer as safe an environment as possible which supports stakeholders' health and safety needs, social distancing, health monitoring, and the ability to quarantine and trace COVID contact and/or infection. The current local and international state of COVID-19 at this time prevents either open or hybrid scenarios which involve onsite instruction and learning. We will continue to track updates and progress of this virus and efforts to deal with it.
With the schools in Guyana and airports still closed, we have decided that we will open the 2020-2021 school year on Monday 17 August in an online scenario. This enables the consistent resumption of educational and learning goals while also enabling planning for parents, planning for the school, return of teaching personnel from outside of Guyana, two weeks of stakeholders' self-quarantine, professional development and professional training prior to the school's opening. We will continue to provide updates as we get closer to the start date.