All secondary schools in Tonga will add an extra hour to their daily timetable to prepare for a possible school shutdown, amid the COVID-19 global outbreak, the Minister for Education and Training, Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni said today, 19 March.

The Secondary Schools Inter-college Sports event due to be held in April has been postponed to November, after the National Examinations.

President of the FWC Schools, Rev. Dr Mele'ana Puloka, said they supported the Ministry’s decision to postpone the inter-college sports and extend the school hours.

Schools will finish at 4:30pm instead of the normal 3:30pm starting next Monday, 23 March.

The additional five hours per week is to ensure that the curriculum is adequately covered and taught well ahead of a possible school closure, said Hon Sovaleni.

Meanwhile, Government Primary School hours are normal at this stage, however, the Ministry is looking at the possibility of extending their school hours once they have assessed each primary school’s curriculum.

“Parents are hereby notified of the intent of this extension of time, and we ask for your understanding of the wish of the Ministry to minimise disruption to students’ learning in a possible close down,” he said.

Home schooling

If schools do have to close down, that means over 31,000 primary and secondary school students will be studying at home.

Hon. Sovaleni said home schooling will become the norm. At such a time, school work will be delivered to students homes via various communication channels such as radio, TV, internet, and / or hard-copies of relevant school resources.

“Your teachers will also be on standby, via email/phone/messages, to answer your queries about your learning. It is the Ministry’s wish that regardless of a possible school closure, your learning will continue through new modes of lessons delivery,” said Hon Sovaleni.

He stressed that support from parents will be critical to ensure their children complete the school curriculum at home.

Home schooling will also apply to tertiary schools.