MOE says all's in place for new school year

Hundreds of thousands of students across the country are returning to school as the 2010/2011 academic year officially gets underway.

The Ministry of Education says it expects a generally smooth resumption of classes at public-run institutions Monday morning.

Last minute preparations such as the distribution of textbooks were carried out on the weekend while food and maintenance grants as well as subventions have been disbursed to schools.

Audrey Sewell, Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry, says the delivery of books to a few schools is still in progress, however; this should not affect the start of classes.

“In terms of secondary schools, we have said before that because of the audit, there is a slight delay but notwithstanding that, we don’t expect any major issue because we have had to retrieve books that were out there and we have been redistributing them to other schools and hopefully everything will be in place for a smooth reopening,” Mrs. Sewell said.

She added that the Education Ministry has mechanisms in place to address unexpected problems which might develop.

“There will be some schools where issues might come up but the regional offices are all on call, on stand by to respond appropriately to all concerns.”

The Ministry of Education will be placing special focus on several newly built schools which will open their doors for the first time this morning.