The principal of Fatima College, Mucurapo says there is no truth to claims being shared in the public domain that the College, is set to discontinue parallel online classes for unvaccinated students from October 4.
Labelling such rumours as untrue and mischievous, principal Father Gregory Augustine yesterday said, “That is not true and it is a lot of misinformation.”
An excerpt from a post on social media yesterday claimed the school had decided that “The online streaming and parallel approach while teachers are in active teaching sessions does not seem feasible at this time.”
It was stated that school officials would ensure educational material be made available for unvaccinated students in Forms Four to Six via the Google Classroom, while face-to-face sessions via Zoom would not be possible.
Dismissing these claims as simply rumours, Augustine said, “Anybody could put up any foolishness there.”
With students now returning to the physical classroom after being home since March 16, 2020, the principal assured, “The senior school of which only vaccinated students are going to be here will take place, while online school will continue for Forms One, Two and Three.”
He added, “We are not discontinuing anything. There will be no interruption in the education system for any of our children.”
On the issue of vaccinated students interacting with unvaccinated teachers in the physical classroom as teachers are not mandated to be vaccinated in order to operate - Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president, Antonia Tekah-De Freitas said it was against the law to change the terms and conditions of teachers’ employment.
Meanwhile, some parents are taking issue with physical classes being conducted on select days.
A parent of a student attending a secondary school in south Trinidad wrote on social media, “My husband and I took it upon ourselves to do the right thing and get vaccinated and ensure that our two daughters were also vaccinated in the hopes as the government said, that schools will re-open to return to some level of normalcy. Excited for this prospect, we received our timetable from one of my daughter’s schools, only to realise that the teaching body plans to bring the kids out only one day per week. As parents, we are shocked and appalled at this half-hearted attempt at teaching our kids.”