With less than five weeks until Malta’s schools are scheduled to re-open, parents and students have no idea what’s going to happen and whether they’re going back to school during COVID19. The Government proposes three scenarios, but has not yet confirmed which will be operationalised. Education Minister Owen Bonnici has however said that the protocols will be similar to those followed at Skolasajf.
“During lockdown, my daughter did well academically. But emotionally and socially, she suffered greatly.”
Following the recent resurgence in cases, it is a delicate time to make such an important decision. Many parents are fearful for their children’s safety at school, but they also want their children to resume learning and spend time with their friends – most of whom they haven’t seen since March. Most of us parents also need to work.
Whether the decision is made for a return to school – full-time or part-time, or the resumption of total online learning, the infrastructure and preparation need to be in place to get started. And we need to be told about it.
“The teaching profession and infrastructure are already in dire straits. If more resources are needed to put a particular system in place, it could not cope.”
If schools are to re-open as normal, we need to know what measures will be implemented to keep everyone safe, but not to overwhelm our children and make the school experience stressful. And, we need to understand the extent to which the protocols may impact our family and social lives.
Will it be risky for vulnerable people to reside in the same home as children attending school, or for us to see friends or family outside of school and the home?
If students will learn online, we need to know how pedagogical strategies will change as online learning requires different approaches to classroom learning. It also requires instruction for us about how we can best support our children to learn – without us needing to be (pseudo) teachers. Teachers, support staff and parents all need to be trained and capable of operating and participating in whatever system we will follow.
“As other European schools started before us, we could have learned from the dozens of schools in several countries already reporting infection. Instead, we are ignoring the alarm bells and risking the nation’s health.”
If the children will learn from home, some, or all of the time, we need to make arrangements with our employers to work reduced hours, from home. This will result in more financial loss for many, and there will be others who lose more.
If parents cannot work less hours or from home, they will lose their jobs. Many will fall into hardship and poverty. Even those of us fortunate to continue working through the lockdown, it was incredibly hard to simultaneously work and parent full time.
If we need to run the gauntlet again, the government needs to confirm what support will be available to avoid us burning out and losing our jobs.
And who is making the decision? The education authorities start meetings this week to discuss what they will do. Will the advice of medical and teaching professionals prevail to arrive at a science-based and feasible solution that parents, teachers and medics feel comfortable with? A solution that can evolve as fluidly as our COVID numbers change. A solution uninfluenced by lobbyists wanting working parents available to keep their businesses, and therefore the economy, afloat.
“Asking children to social distance and adequately sanitise – is like giving them a bowl of sweets and asking them not to eat any. Some will, some won’t.”
What will happen if we are told to send our children to school, but we do not feel that it is safe to do so? Should our children be going back to school during covid19? I did not feel safe going to a government-approved pool party, feast or confirmation; just as I will not feel safe to send my children to school unless our numbers have been at almost zero for weeks. Will parents like me be threatened and punished? Will our children be able to access online learning?
Children need educating and social interaction with their peers, but it cannot be at the risk and expense of anyone’s physical and emotional health.
We cannot see a repeat of the mistake to authorise large gatherings – the mistake that put us back on the upward curve. We cannot put our children and teachers at risk, and by extension whole families and communities.
“Kids need to go back to school. We need to create a safe space for as many kids as we can, and fully support kids (and their families) who need, or choose to learn from home.”
But, we must be pragmatic. Life must go on. With COVID. And it can. With ongoing and robust analysis and implementation of the most efficacious strategies to maximise prevention and minimise transmission, we can keep its contained and away from those vulnerable to its worst impact. In doing so, we can carefully and slowly resume our lives in this post-COVID world.
But time is of the absolute essence. Schools have been closed for six months, and notwithstanding the volatility of the situation, it’s not hard to predict that the authorities needed to prepare for there being no, some, or a lot of COVID infections when schools resumed.
The question remains…should children be going back to school during covid19 or not?
Each of those scenarios should have and could have been provided for in six month. The quotes contained in this article are all from parents of school-age children in Malta. They are a few of many. Parents are anxious. Whatever solution is proposed; we and our children need to be included in making it, understand its requirements and ramifications, be able to accept or reject it, and be supported to adjust to a new and fluid reality. And we need to know NOW.
About the Author
While having supported justice reform in 50 countries over the past 20 years, Helen Burrows is first a Mum to 10 and 7 year old girls. A lawyer, a journal board member, a business developer, a writer, a housekeeper and taxi – Helen leads a full and happy life.
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