Jamaica cancel all school sports due to COVID-19 rise

Jamaica has recorded more than 500 positive COVID-19 cases in the month of August alone with 116 confirmed yesterday, the highest figure recorded in a single day.

The spike in cases which included six related deaths in this month, has forced the education ministry to postpone the phased reopening of school from September 7 to October 5.

In a statement this morning under the signature of its president Keith Wellington, the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) stated that these and other matters have forced its hand.

Said ISSA: “With the recently announced delayed start of the 2020-21 academic year due to the spike in positive COVID-19 cases, the executive of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association has decided to cancel all sporting competitions scheduled for the Christmas term of the 2020-21 academic year.

“Having previously proposed an October 16, 2020 restart to our competitions, ISSA will use the next eight weeks to re-assess the conditions under which schools will reopen and how they will operate. Subject to this assessment and the suitability of conditions, ISSA through consultations with its membership, will determine the list of competitions to be offered and a new timetable for the resumption of school sports.

"We would like to reassure all our stakeholders, that ISSA is cognizant of the role of organized sports in the physical, mental and physco-social development of our teenaged high school population. As such, we are committed to ensuring that at the earliest possible opportunity, we will re-engage our students in our various competitions as we play our part in bringing back some sense of normalcy to their wholesome development.”

Coming out of a meeting with ISSA earlier this month, influential stakeholder group, the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), had voiced strong opposition to the resumption of any sporting activities involving schools.