Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 16, 2020 (SKNIS): Although on-site instruction in schools has been suspended for a two-week period, students will still have an opportunity to learn at home online thanks to FLOW Study, says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, the Honourable Shawn Richards, during the April 16 National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) COVID-19 Daily Briefing.
Deputy Prime Minister Richards stated that it is critical that learning still continues at home. As such, the Ministry of Education has taken the necessary steps to ensure that teaching and learning will continue for students despite the extended school closure.
“The Ministry of Education’s Curriculum Development Unit and Early Childhood Unit have organized a selection of educational materials, lessons and activity suggestions to support continued education in the home,” he said. “These are for learners at the early childhood, primary, and secondary levels.”
The deputy prime minister stated that the educational resources were developed from input from the teachers.
He added that the work that will be available for students will be grade appropriate and will be in alignment with content from different subject areas that students covered in schools during the last school term.
“These locally structured and approved educational resources will become available on the Ministry of Education’s website www.education.gov.kn as of Monday, 20th April, 2020,” he said. “The website will be intermittently updated with new content during this initial two-week period of school closure.
Next week, all students in St. Kitts and Nevis will be issued a username and password which will allow access to the FLOW Study platform, said the deputy prime minister. He said that the FLOW Study platform is “a website that provides for self-paced learning of content that is aligned with our primary and secondary school curricula.”
Using the Ministry of Education issued FLOW Study username and password, students and their families will be provided several benefits: the registration process is simplified; technical support will be available from the Ministry; and most importantly, activities completed by students on the site will be shared with schools and teachers to support students’ return to learning in school, said the deputy prime minister.
Deputy Prime Minister Richards informed that the school, which a person’s child or ward attends, will share the registration information with their families.
The deputy prime minister stated that if the school closure needs to be extended from the initial two-week period, the ministry has developed a comprehensive programme for home based continued education for the nation’s children.
“The home-based continued education plan is phased. It involves the use of FLOW Study, in the first instance, and will be followed by the introduction of virtual classrooms using Microsoft Teams, in the event of protracted closure,” he said.
He added that as the ministry is mindful that for teachers to be better equipped for providing instruction in virtual classrooms, training for teachers to use Microsoft Teams will begin the week of April 20, 2020.
“This will ensure the readiness of the teachers to facilitate online teaching and learning should the second phase of home-based education be implemented,” said Deputy Prime Minister Richards.
The deputy prime minister stated that to ensure continued education for all students in the event of lengthy school closure, “the Ministry has invested in devices and internet connectivity for students and teachers who were previously identified as not having access to these necessary tools for virtual education.”
“By taking these collective actions, the Ministry of Education is ensuring that core functions of the education system can, and will continue, should the national COVID -19 mitigation efforts require the further extension of school closure. We are very grateful for the partnerships with Flow, the Cable and Digicel,” he said.
The education minister has urged the general public, particularly students, teachers, parents and families to frequently check the ministry’s website www.education.gov.kn for updates.
