Jamaican parents turn to fully virtual schooling amid safety worries

Rising worries about student safety and violence in schools are pushing more Jamaican parents to look beyond traditional classrooms. One option gaining attention is fully virtual private schooling, where pupils learn from home while following the national curriculum and sitting exams such as PEP at centres near them.

Pedro Hall, principal of Shara Group of Virtual Schools — formerly El Shaddai Homeschool — has worked in the field for six years. He saw the need emerging in 2018 and launched the programme in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated demand. The institution is entirely online: children log on for a full school day from kindergarten through high school, with no in-person teaching. Sports days, graduations, and trips still take place face to face.

Hall distinguishes the model from a conventional school that simply shifts classes online. Because instruction is delivered into the home rather than on a physical campus, the service was originally branded as homeschooling, though the group later adopted the Shara name to reflect its virtual structure. Shara combines two Igbo words — shar, meaning prince, and shara, meaning princess — reflecting what Hall calls a school of princes and princesses.

Enrollment has grown to roughly one hundred pupils, spread across about thirty-five at the high-school level and thirty to forty in prep, with the remainder in kindergarten. Hall credits safety concerns and convenience for strong parent uptake. Class sizes are capped at fifteen for high school, ten for prep, and eight for kindergarten, a setup he says has produced strong national exam results through close teacher-student contact.

Fees range from J$47,500 per term for kindergarten to J$81,500 for grade eleven. As a private provider, the school charges tuition; Hall noted that government fee-free policies apply to public institutions. Teachers receive training in online delivery, and Hall said pupils remain socially active both on digital platforms and in person — citing a grade-six group of about thirteen who met for birthday celebrations at one another's homes.

Hall is in his thirty-first year in education and currently serves as a guidance counsellor at a school in Spanish Town. Families interested in enrolling can visit elshaddaihomeschools.com to open a parent account and register a child; a new Shara website and platform are expected in September.