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With confirmation coming yesterday that the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus has been identified in the island, Minister of Education Fayval Williams says plans for the reopening of face-to-face classes next month will need adjustment."This is new news for us, so we will have to recalibrate, to look again, to speak with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, to be able to advise our Jamaican parents ..what the dates are that we will be looking at for schools in a face-to-face environment," the education minister said."We have announced that ...the first teaching day is Monday, September 6, 202, and that we will be beginning school in the online mode," Williams said while was speaking to the media following her address on the final day of the 57th annual conference of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) at Ocean Coral Spring Resort in Trelawny yesterday.She said the ministries of education and health and wellness will today discuss the latest turn of events and the availability of the Pfizer vaccine, which can be administered to children 12 years and older."We will be getting the Pfizer vaccine; those can be taken by children 12 years and older, and so we are going to begin that programme over the weekend to get as many of our children vaccinated as possible," Williams explained.She also announced that the Government will shortly be embarking on a massive public education campaign."We are going to focus all our efforts now on rolling out our campaign across social media, across the traditional media, to get the information out there to let parents know of the new development in terms of the vaccines for the children that we will have...That is our focus right now," Williams said.Newly installed JTA President Winston Smith noted that nearly 70 per cent of teachers, including himself, have already been vaccinated."Our records show that upward of 68 per cent of the teaching population would have been vaccinated. In our discussion with the minister [of education] we pointed out the fact that, apart from just teachers, there are other persons who work within the school sector, we need to have them vaccinated as well. She has assured us that those persons will become part of that priority group when the next roll-out takes place," Smith said.He also expressed confidence that, based on the teachers' response to Dr Peter Figueroa's presentation during the conference on Tuesday, a larger percentage of educators will be willing to take the jab during the next vaccine blitz."We still assert, though, that the JTA encourages all teachers, all personnel within the ambit of the school system in Jamaica, to go and get vaccinated. However, we are not going to say....and I don't think the Ministry of Education is forcing anybody at this time," Williams stated.