SJPI students obeying COVID-19 measures, says principal

Students of the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) have been complying with the COVID-19 health and safety measures instituted at the school.

SJPI Principal, Ian Drakes, stated presently it is week three and so far there are no major challenges.

“For us at SJPI, it has been a very smooth transition from the pre-COVID to the COVID now and living with COVID because we would have been planning from the time we closed down in March actually. Therefore, we have found that our protocols were approved by the Ministry of Health and Wellness and they actually commended us for the great job we had done on our protocols and we have found that our staff and students have been very receptive to what we have put in place.”

Drakes said measures have been set up to reduce the number of students at the campus at a given time. This has been done through the use of blended learning where classes and labs are taught some online and others face to face. He also said there has not been a falloff in student enrolment.

“We do have a full complement of staff and a full complement of students as it relates to all of our programmes. We don’t have no programmes that are under-subscribed right now.”

He continued, “We have reduced some of the numbers as it relates to COVID-19, but what we have also put in place in terms of our protocols is that it is compulsory to wear masks or face shields at all times in terms of the delivery of instructions, so that we are really meeting the protocols. If we can’t meet the three or six feet, then you have on all the PPEs… We are very strict. We have been able to put a lot of sanitisation stations across the campus. We had extra exits and entrances apart from just the main campus. So there have not been any bundles for the last two weeks since we have started. There have not been any disruptions and it is really a good, calm [environment]. Persons are conforming in terms of the young adults.”