The Ministry of Education

As parents of MIJS/IPS who want the best possible education for our children, we are well aware that the covid 19 pandemic has caused a lot of distress as government applied strict lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of the virus. This period will most definotely remain the most talked about in history.

In the midst of all this, schools had to close down. Businesses were forced to implement continuity plans in order to stay afloat.In the spirit of salvaging the academic year, schools also sought to virtual learning with the hope that reopening will be soon and parents did not have a problem with paying full fees whilst assuming the roles of teaching and supervising kids from home.

As the virus prolonged, virtual lesson began to deteriorate. Parents became concerned as we felt the contractual obligations promised by the school were no longer being honoured given the deterioration on the quality of virtul deliverance.

This led to parents initiating discussions with the school. Several meetings with the school management were held to raise their concerns regarding the effectiveness of virtual lessons and their high cost implocations on parents.

The online teaching became inadequate to say the least, not to mention that we had to get data to log on, and be given grief on top by poor internet connections, while on the one hand still have to supervise the children during the lessons whilst making time for our employers. This burden prompted parents to request the school to reconsider their fee structure until such time that the situation normalizes, but all was in vain.

As the new academic year began, the school held yet another meeting with parents who raised the same concerns on the actual value derived from the online lessons, which parents felt was inadequate. The ultimate decision from the school post the many delibarations was for parents to vote on the following options:

Option 1: Education and NACOSEC allows for operation normally (this would include Grade 6 and Special Needs learners).

Option 2 (A): Parents who still find the current delivery platform under the Covid 19 restrictions of value, can continue with the school until all restrictions have been lifted.

Option 2 (B): Parents who are not happy with the current mode of operation, we urge you to please not let your children join the zoom lessons (including the recorded sessions), consultations, homework and lesson summaries until we are allowed to operate normally. This option comes with a few underlying conditions; once schools open normally, the parents would need to re - register your child provided there is space; secondly for those on a corporate discount, this facility will be reversed would have to pay 100% fees. There will also not be any extra classes for those that re-join the academic later on post Covid restrictions, however, the class teacher will try his/her best to help them catch up.

The school management has given feedback that majority of parents have chosen option 2A. This is hard to believe as one would imagine in a democratic voting, all stakeholders interests would be represented but there was no parent representative was present in validating the results. The school did not even afford parents a courtesy to fully diclose how many people responded to the emails in total, nor the number in each category. This result also goes against the initial petition requesting the reduction of fees from the school given parents are no longer getting value for money

In the best interest of our children's safety and quality of education,We have therefore come to an agreement as parents to request the ministry of education to ask the school to remain closed with the exception of special needs and external grades until such a time the secretariet gives a green light for all schools to resume physically.