Worries over sending children back to school

“For me, I want my children to go to school because it is like I losing them. I know people saying how it ain’t safe and all them things but it is not safe fuh we to leave we children at home with nobody. It not safe for them not to really getting any schooling. So I totally agree for my children to go back to school.

“I will allow my secondary school child to get the vaccine and send her out. While I am not too comfortable with it, I think in my heart it is the right thing. So, I am doing what I have to do and pray for the best. My children have really suffer over them months school close if you see how they drop back. So I believe that there is no other thing to do than to send them to school if they will become something in life.”

The words of a mother who will be sending two of her children to school tomorrow. One to primary and the other to secondary school. The reopening of schools has divided our country as while some are in agreement with it, others believe that classes should remain ‘virtual’. I put virtual in single quotes because since schools closed last March (there has been a partial opening for some levels) a significant portion of our country’s children has not had any access to virtual learning. Some have had access to workbooks and worksheets but with no explanation on the various concepts they were unable to successfully complete. Then there were those who had absolutely no access.

So where does that leave us?

Education Minister Priya Manickchand and her team have taken the bull by the horns and decided to open schools. With climbing numbers of COVID-19 cases, the fact that citizens continue to live recklessly and ignore the safety guidelines coupled with those who still believe that the deadly disease is a myth it is understandable that some are resistant to schools being reopened.

While I have my own views on the issue, I am using this space to share the sentiments of some teachers and parents. They have asked to remain anonymous.

“I believe that school should be reopened, our children have been out of school for too long,” said a teacher. “We have had children who we have not engaged since March last year and we are talking about primary school children. So we just have to open back the doors, remain as safe as we can be and hope for the best. We are losing our children, simple as that.”

I asked her if she had been vaccinated.

“I have not taken the vaccine and I have no intention of doing so,” she answered, with the same passion in her voice as when she spoke about reopening of school.

“Why are you telling me to get vaccinated when you have me teaching unvaccinated children?” she asked.

I asked her why she was not taking the vaccine.

“For me right now it is safe. I don’t see why I should take the vaccine that people really don’t know nothing about. I don’t want to argue with anyone and I am not going to tell anyone not to take it but I am not going to take any vaccine. If it comes that I have to lose my job then I am willing to do so,” she told me.

I am not one to engage in arguments with anyone when it comes to vaccination. I do have my view, which I refrained from sharing even as I canvassed the views of others as it pertains to the reopening of schools. I did not argue with the teacher, those are her views and who am I to tell her otherwise?

“But as I said I agree with the ministry in reopening the schools because for me that is the only way we can save our children,” she continued after a pause.

Another teacher said, “While I agree that many of our children were not being taught during the months the schools were closed, I don’t believe enough was done to fully prepare for the school doors to be reopened. Many of the schools don’t have space for social distancing and so you have to rotate children coming to school and in the end you have children getting two and three hours of teaching when the week comes. The other times they have to learn from home and we know what happens with that.”

“There should have looked at maybe renting empty buildings that could be used so that children can at least get two full days of schooling. It would not be enough but it would still be better than two and three hours a week. What the government has to understand is that it has to spend money for this to work. You can’t give children $19,000 and think that it is all well and good and they would just get schooling. You have to do more to ensure that the children really get a chance to learn,” another teacher told me.

“To me it is just them trying to get teachers vaccinated and I am not taking any vaccine,” she added.

“I am not against anybody who take the vaccine but don’t try to tell me that I have to take it, whether you get the vaccine or not you can still contract or transmit the virus so I am not prepared.”

It is important to state here that while one might contract the virus even if vaccinated, according to experts, the vaccine provides a defence against one becoming very ill or being hospitalised. The virus also does not remain in one’s system as long as it would in an unvaccinated individual.

But back to the opinions.

“I am not going to send my children to school because I don’t believe it is safe. My children are too young to be vaccinated and so at the primary level children would not understand how to remain safe. While I know their education has been and will continue to be affected I will try to do my best. But for me I prefer they remain home and be safe than go out there and then get sick,” one parent said.

I asked her if she would have allowed them to be vaccinated if they were of age.

“I can’t say no or yes but then I am not in the situation. But I must say that I have been vaccinated so maybe I would have, I don’t know. But what I am seeing out there, how Guyanese are living, I really can’t have my children out there and it will be too much for the teachers to supervise and teach the children so I will be keeping my children home,” she told me.

“I want to send my child to school but I am not in agreement with the vaccination. I am preparing her for school and I hope the ministry don’t come out and say only vaccinated secondary school children will be allowed to go to school because then I will have to keep her home. I agree with schooling though,” another parent said.

I suppose the jury is still out on this issue, as there are those who support it and those who are against. I have children and I will be sending them to school, but I am not going to tell another sister what to do. I have witnessed the damage being done to children because schools are closed. We have lost many of them and this cannot continue. While for me the Education Ministry has made the right decision, I believe more could be done to alleviate the safety concerns of parents. I also believe that more could be done to ensure that our children are safe.

As it relates to inoculation, I am not in agreement with teachers (or any worker for that matter) being locked out or for them to produce negative PCR tests. Sometimes it is not what you say but how you say it. I will encourage parents to continue to be safe and keep their children safe. Our children need to be in school, for me there is no argument on that issue.