Reopening of schools postponed for the umpteenth time
It is quite frustrating to see most industries operating in a business-as-usual manner even amidst a still-dangerous Covid-19 situation while students of all levels have been suffering from varying degrees of learning loss since March of last year, when all educational institutions were shut down due to the virus. At a virtual briefing on Wednesday, the education minister announced that educational institutions will reopen once the infection rate drops below 5 percent, or on June 13 if the situation improves—whichever comes first.
The government's concern about further spread of the virus, especially amongst elderly relatives of students, is justified and understandable. However, we cannot ignore some of the more severe consequences of keeping educational institutions closed or only running online, such as the increase in the number of dropouts and child marriages. Moreover, if shops, bazaars and many workplaces can be opened, why not the schools? In rural areas especially, many students' education is completely halted as they cannot attend online classes like their urban counterparts. Educational programmes broadcast on state-run TV channels can only make up for so much of over one year's worth of learning loss. It has become a matter of urgency now to reopen schools, for rural children especially, in order to keep them from becoming engaged in hazardous jobs or being married off by parents.
It has been quite clear for some time now that we cannot wait until the virus is fully eradicated to reopen educational institutions, as we seem to run into new issues such as vaccine shortages and surges in cases every other day.
We believe it is long overdue for the authorities to come up with a solid plan to either send students back to school (preferably in phases and maintaining necessary health guidelines), or to ensure their learning loss is curbed as much as possible while at home. Since the latter is quite a challenge for most areas, opening schools while maintaining basic health guidelines seems to be the most logical move—something that is being done in other countries. We agree with the suggestion of the former DGHS director of disease control that the government could reopen schools in areas where the infection rate is well below 5 percent. Getting all teachers vaccinated would also be an effective way to ensure safety. That seems to be the case in many rural areas where education has come to a complete standstill since the pandemic started. Unless children start going to school where they learn, play and make friends, there will be more learning loss, school dropouts, child marriages, child labour, and not to mention mental health complications, thus taking away all our achievements in these areas.
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