It’s unclear how many teachers have taken the AstraZeneca jabs to date, but the government has stated that reinstating face-to-face learning will depend on the vaccination of parents and teachers across the BVI.

“I’m afraid we’re losing a generation of young people from primary up to tertiary education given the happenings on the ground with COVID-19. Don’t wait for anybody in authority to tell you anything. I want you to give some prayerful thought and consideration about getting the vaccine as soon as you possibly can so that our children can have face-to-face learning because we are losing our children,” Skelton Cline said on a recent edition of his Honestly Speaking radio show.

He continued: “This has nothing to do with what political side you are on. It has to do with the salvation of our children. Please ma’am, please sir, get vaccinated so you can get back to doing properly what you do, which is to teach.”

Many have bemoaned the fact that several children have fallen behind because of the remote learning approach that was introduced when COVID-19 hit the BVI.

However, many educators have hailed the change, saying internet-based learning brings variety to the classroom and engages students in a new and exciting way.

Despite this, most of the population see face-to-face learning as the ideal model, as many parents depend on the school system to supervise their children while they go to work. Many parents also prefer face-to-face learning because they’ve been finding it difficult to supervise more than one child while working from home.