Vendors will still be able to ply their trade within school compounds.
Minister of Education, Technical and Vocational Training, Santia Bradshaw, gave this assurance on Monday in an update to media on how the first day of school unfolded for Academic Year 2020-2021.
Speaking in the Media Resource Department’s conference room at the Elsie Payne Complex, Constitution Road, St. Michael, she said: “I have made it clear that we are prepared to continue working with our vendors because we don’t want to disadvantage anyone, particularly in this [COVID-19] environment.”
Ms. Bradshaw stated, however, that what the Ministry required of vendors was to ensure the choices available to students were healthier and promoted a healthy lifestyle for them.
She added: “We are also encouraging within the schools that our teachers and management ensure that any snacks which are being sold or anything that is being brought to school is also healthy and…. I think that working hand-in-hand with our vendors, we have a responsibility to ensure that that transition is made and that we can encourage them to be able to provide items that our students would be able to have a proper diet when they want to have a snack.”
The Education Minister also noted similar protocols of making sure all of the normal sanitisation, wearing of masks and the social distancing should be followed, as indicated by the Ministry of Health and Wellness. Thanking the general public for being patient and continuing to provide the necessary feedback to help her Ministry respond in a timely manner, Ms. Bradshaw said: “We are hopeful that over the course of the next few days that we will get it right in terms of making this transition in a COVID-19 environment as seamless as possible, for students, parents, teachers and all the respective stakeholders.”