CIRCULAR MEMORANDUM -ular Memorandum No. 8 of 2021 FROM : Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education To : Schools Supervisors IT Principals - Government and Government Assisted Secondary Schools DATE 7 September 23, 2021 SUBJECT : Guidelines for Physical Reopening of Schools for Fully Vaccinated Students of Forms 4 to 6 on October 4th, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic required adjustments to the delivery of the curriculum at all levels of the education system. As a result, schooling continued via online learning, printed packages, lessons and content delivered via Ministry of Education’s (MoE’s) Leaming Management System (LMS), dedicated television channels, radio broadcasts, Youtube Channel, and newspapers inserts, ‘The Government of Trinidad and Tobago (GOR) has provided vaccines for the nation’s citizens from age twelve and above. To date, over one million doses have been administered to citizens, including thirty-nine thousand, one hundred and twenty (39,120) to citizens between the ages of twelve and eighteen. ‘The GORTT has further taken the decision to approve the phased retum of students to physical classrooms for face-to-face instruction. As such, Secondary Schools throughout Trinidad and Tobago will re-open on Monday, 4th October, 2021 for fully vaccinated students of Forms 410 6, for face-to-face instruction and practical sessions. Teachers who are timetabled to deliver instruction to fully vaccinated students of Forms 4 - 6 are required to report for duty at their assigned schools to deliver instruction via the face-to-face modality. Physical attendance notwithstanding, teachers are encouraged to utilize blended methods of curriculum delivery. Principals Secondary are asked to make arrangements to facilitate teaching and learning at these institutions in accordance with the Reopening Guidelines attached. Special attention must be paid to the following: 1. All teachers timetabled for face-to-face instruction must physically report for duty at their assigned school; 2. In the preparation of class/teacher timetable: a. Sufficient time must be allotted for teacher planning; and b, Adherence to the recommended sereen time for online classes, as indicated in the Guidelines for the Reopening of School, must be adhered to; ‘Teachers who are time-tabled for both online and physical classes on the same day must be given the flexibility to provide asynchronous work for their online students as required. 4, Only fully vaccinated students of Forms 4 - 6 are permitted to attend school physically at this time. NB An individual is deemed fully vaccinated two weeks after the administration of the full dosage of MOH recognised vaccines. Schools must devise methods to ensure compliance with this requirement 5, Students of the Forms 4-6 cohort who are not fully vaccinated as of October 4", 2021, should be allowed to attend school physically subsequent to that date once full vaccination status is achioved. ‘The Ministry is currently providing additional support to schools for the blended learning modality through the provision of: 1. MiFi devices and laptops to teachers for the conduct of blended leaming; and 2. Substitute teachers to temporarily All teaching vacancies.Principals are required to submit an Individual School Reopening Plan to their line Supervisors, according to the template provided in the Guidelines for Physical School Reopening. This document requires schools to identify the measures by which students of Forms 4 to 6 who are not attending school physically will have access to educational material. This document should be submitted by Friday, I" October, 2021. Chief Education Officer (Ag) /f/Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education ce Director, School Supervision and Management Division ce Director, Curriculum Planning and Development Division ce Director, Student Support Services Division