The Ministry of Education and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of The Berkeley Institute, Craig Bridgewater, today confirmed that effective today, Tuesday, December 8, the Berkeley Institute have transitioned to a remote learning environment.
The decision was made in order that the delivery of the educational programming to its students is not interrupted and continues to be highly effective. The School has been fortunate not to have any positive cases of COVID-19 among its population however the impact of various quarantining orders within the community and at other schools has had a knock on effect on the number of faculty that are able to come to campus. As of yesterday, approximately 20% of the teaching staff had been affected and asked to quarantine with their school age children. Fortunately, these staff are still available to teach in the remote environment.
Chairman Bridgewater noted, “Last night in a meeting with the Ministry of Education, solutions to the challenges Berkeley faced as a result of staff resource issues were discussed. A robust discussion ensued with potential solutions put forward to address the extraordinarily high number of staff who are unable to be on campus directly interacting with the students. We are pleased to announce that the Minister of Education, after careful consideration of the options put forward, has agreed to the Berkeley Institute transitioning to a learning environment for the remainder of this term.”
Minister of Education, the Hon. Diallo Rabain, JP, MP said, “It is important to assure the public that there have not been any cases of exposure to COVID-19 at The Berkeley Institute. I am happy that we were able to sit and discuss this issue with the Chairman and the Principal last night. The decision to transition to remote learning is not one that was taken lightly as we understand the challenges in doing so presents to parents and caregivers. These challenges are not limited to the Berkeley Institute, and the Department is working to address these and other issues that have arisen as a result of the recent school closings. The Ministry and Department of Education continue to work with the Ministry of Health to provide the best way forward and to keep our students, teachers and staff safe.”
Mr. Bridgewater added, “Additionally, on behalf of the Board of Governors, I extend my thanks to the School’s leadership team and staff for assisting with the supervision of students during these challenging times. As of this morning The Berkeley Institute has successfully transitioned to remote learning for S1 to S4 students commencing and will remain so at least until the end of term next Wednesday, December 16."
The Ministry of Health offered COVID-19 testing, using saliva tests, for the Berkeley Institute staff today at the school from 11:00 am to 1:00 p.m.