“For me I don’t think school should reopen because it is not safe with COVID-19. I understand why some persons would want schools to be reopened because we know that some children are not being taught but we have to look at the bigger picture,” said a mother of two school aged children.
“Some people might want to argue that people like me can have this opinion because my children have real access to online learning so I don’t have to worry. But I do worry because even with live classes during the normal school hours I have seen my child’s grades slip. I have seen the mental challenge of being at home all the time and not being able to physically interact with her school friends… But I still cannot opt for the physical school doors being reopened.”
But another mother who has three children said, “I need my children to go back to school. I telling you the truth. Is three of them and them children not getting any real teaching. I have to work from morning until late in the afternoon and by the time I get home is just to get dinner and think about the next day. I try my level best to get the internet and the teachers sending work but they hardly doing it. And then they saying some of the things they do not understand. Them not really getting any Zoom class so is just the work they have to do.
“The little one well I don’t know what really happening with she because for this whole term them ain’t get no workbook and the teacher sending work on WhatsApp but you have to print it out. I don’t have money to print out all them things and me phone don’t have space so it fulling up and shutting down. I just trying to teach she when I can to do a little spelling and Maths and so but she not getting no really teaching. I don’t know what she would know when she go into Grade Two.
“Them two bigger ones they wouldn’t even try and help she, but then they say they have them work to do. It really hard and if school don’t open back, I don’t know what will happen to me children. Yes I know COVID is real but what happening to the children is real to. I does see so much a children just be on the road whole day. Some of them riding, some of them begging and I don’t know what to say. Is like the poor children will suffer more when school not opening. The government have to do something even if it is let them children take turn and go to school but school have to open, that is what I think.”
I decided to canvass the opinions of a few mothers on the physical reopening of schools come September. Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has indicated that this is an option that is being looked at but several issues, among them the inoculation of the nation, have to be considered before a final decision is taken.
As a mother of school aged children I share many of the concerns expressed by parents as to the physical reopening of school. One thing that we can all agree on is that our children are suffering one way or the other, and that is inclusive of the children who are attending private schools that have live classes on virtual platforms. Like the first mother said, children are being affected psychologi-cally, regardless of which social strata they fall into. But of course the safety of our children cannot be taken for granted especially in the light of recent grim revelations from Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony about four children currently hospitalised with a severe form of the COVID-19 disease. He also disclosed that since March 2020, some 1,567 children were diagnosed with COVID-19. The breakdown is that some 287 children (148 are boys and 39 girls) between the ages of one month and four years contracted the disease. Meanwhile, 523 children — 273 boys and 250 girls — between the ages of five and nine years were diagnosed with the coronavirus. The minister said that children between the ages 10 to 14 years represent the largest grouping of children who have contracted the disease, with a total of 756 children (342 boys and 414 girls) testing positive.
Of course, the above information will have all parents worried and many may baulk at the reopening of schools because it will be difficult to keep our children safe while they are at school. But where do we strike the balance? Like many parents, I also believe that the fallout from COVID as it relates to our children truly accessing education will be just as dire.
“We really have to decide what to do, I would not tell you a lie. I will be afraid to send my children to school come Septem-ber. Not when I look at the numbers and the way people are still behaving. It is like I am talking to many people and they are telling me that COVID-19 is not real and that the vaccine is to put something in your system,” another parent said.
“Now tell me how can we keep children safe when we have people in society with such mentality? Where do we go from here? I do agree that our children are suffering but then why must I put my child in harm’s way? How would it help if, God forbid, he gets it and is no more. Will it be worth it? Those are the things we have to look at if we are thinking about opening school.”
“For me I think we can have a staggered system,” another parent told me. “There is no question about it. Children need to be back in the classroom. We have to work out a system to get them back there safely. Why not have them go in on different days and at different times? We cannot have thousands of children not accessing schooling for over a year; that cannot continue indefinitely.
“The longer we have children out of the classroom, the more children we will lose. Yes, I say lose because they would not complete their education and they would fall by the wayside. It will be half of a generation just not completing schooling and the other half some will barely limp to the finishing line. I know it is a tough one but something has to give and we have to make a decisive decision.”
All of the points put forward by these mothers have merit; none can be discounted. It is tough but the powers that be have to make a decision and we the citizens have to find a way to live with it and also ensure that our children remain safe.
Months ago the World Health Organization (WHO) said data suggested that children under the age of 18 years represent about 8.5% of reported cases, with relatively few deaths compared to other age groups and usually mild disease.
“However, cases of critical illness have been reported. As with adults, pre-existing medical conditions have been suggested as a risk factor for severe disease and intensive care admission in children,” WHO said.
It was advised that as authorities debate the reopening of schools they should consider these benefits:
● Allowing students to complete their studies and continue to the next level
● Ensuring essential services, access to nutrition, and child
welfare, such as preventing violence against children
● Social and psychological well- being
● Access to reliable information onhow to keep themselves and others safe
● Reducing the risk of non-return to school
● Benefit to society, such as allowing parents to work
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore had this to say, and it has stuck with me for a while: “The number of out-of-school children is set to increase by 24 million, to a level we have not seen in years and have fought so hard to overcome.
“Children’s ability to read, write and do basic math has suffered, and the skills they need to thrive in the 21st century economy have diminished.”
We just cannot discount the above, our children are suffering and will continue to suffer. It is time for Minister Manickchand and her colleagues to make the tough decision. It has to be made and they must implement measures to keep our children safe in the process. September is right around the corner; the cat has to be belled.
