Minister of Education Jeff Lloyd is blaming COVID-19 for the decision to return to online learning this school year but ministry employees say the real story is that schools aren’t ready.
According to sources in the Ministry of Education, the government was scrambling to find funds for its school repair program but came up short after blowing millions of dollars on COVID payments to undisclosed companies.
In June, Lloyd said the government will spend $50 million to repair schools over the summer but there is no evidence that contracts for school repairs ever went to tender.
Lloyd said repairs would start mid-July and be completed in August.
Parents experienced whiplash last night when the ministry announced in the dead of night that all public school students across the country would be learning virtually as of August 30 instead of the hybrid format Lloyd announced earlier this week.
“All government schools will open in a virtual learning format on August 30, 2021” according to the statement, which was released at 11:42pm.
