Manickchand meets national PTA Execs on vax for students

THE EDUCATION MINISTRY AND HEAD OF THE NATIONAL PARENT
TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION (PTA) held talks with chairpersons of PTAs of secondary
schools about the implications of the government’s decision to vaccinate school children to
protect them against the deadly coronavirus.
The two sides which included Education Minister Ms. Priya Manickchand, Chief Education
Officer (CEO), Dr. Marcel Hutson, and Coordinator of the National Parent Teachers Association
(PTA), Ms. Nadia Hollingsworth, met virtually to help flesh out issues concerning the ministry’s
announcement that students from 12 years old will be inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine from
this month end.
While the inoculation drive targets secondary school students, any learner in a primary school
who qualifies, will also be given the jab, the ministry assured PTA executives.
However, parents must first sign the MOE’s consent form for any school-aged child to receive
the COVID vaccine.
Regional Education Officers (REdOs) of the 11 Education Districts (which comprises the 10
Administrative Regions and Georgetown) already have the vital consent forms and will make
them available to schools nationwide sometime today, according to details from the meeting with
the PTA officials.
The education ministry is advising parents to drop off the fully completed forms to their
children’s respective schools.
The forms can also be submitted electronically via the social media platform, WhatsApp, the
PTAs were told. Under this method, a parent can take a photograph of the physical form and
send it to 652 – 9144, the ministry’s WhatsApp telephone number.
Parents who are unable to uplift the form from their child’s school, can download the document
from the Ministry of Education’s website at: https://education.gov.gy/covid-vaccine.

If they prefer, parents can also fill and submit the form electronically by visiting the link,
https://forms.office.com/r/jGKHNM5mzk.
The ministry will provide a schedule of the vaccination programme for students in preparation
for the anticipated reopening of schools for in-class teaching and learning across the country.
The deadly COVID-19 forced closure of schools throughout the country for more than a
year. The virus killed more than four million persons in countries around the world.