Of reopening schools

By Joshua Corcuera

The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), through its executive director and director-general, released a statement entitled, “Reopening schools cannot wait.”

Here is an excerpt of the statement:

It’s been 18 months since the COVID-19 outbreak started and education for millions of children is still disrupted. As of today, primary and secondary schools are shuttered in 19 countries, affecting over 156 million students.

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This should not go on. Schools should be the last to close and the first to reopen. 

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The losses for parents and caretakers are equally heavy. Keeping children at home is forcing parents around the world to leave their jobs, especially in countries with no or limited family leave policies.

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That’s why reopening schools for in-person learning cannot wait.

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It cannot wait for cases to go to zero. There is clear evidence that primary and secondary schools are not among the main drivers of transmission. Meanwhile, the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools is manageable with appropriate mitigation strategies in most settings.

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All schools should provide in-person learning as soon as possible, without barriers to access, including not mandating vaccination prior to school entry.

Closing schools mortgages our future for unclear benefits to our present. We must prioritize better. We can reopen schools safely, and we must.

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I agree with the point argued by the statement: that we must return to face-to-face classes as soon as possible and, at the same time, keep the student population safe from the public health crisis. Due to the current set-up of classes, whether online or modular, the potential of the Filipino youth cannot be fully realized. The development of the Filipino child, not only in academics but also in societal engagement and physical and mental health, is taking a toll. It is imperative for the-powers-that-be to craft guidelines and strategize on how face-to-face classes will be carried out as early as now. We can see that some degree programs, specifically health-related courses, are slowly returning to the halls of learning — it is necessary to do the same to other fields of study soon.

This growing call to resume safe face-to-face classes also highlights the need to fully vaccinate educators and students. It seems appropriate to look at students as an important part of society even if they are not working at present, because they will surely be the backbone of society in the near future. It appears that some students in college are eligible to receive their jab against COVID-19 though this is not shared by all. There are reportedly some vaccination centers where students cannot be vaccinated due to prioritization of certain groups (e.g. A1, A2, A3, A4).

Halfway through the year, tens of millions of vaccine doses have been administered in the country but only a mere 3.4% have been fully vaccinated. The target of herd immunity — 70% of the total population — remains an elusive objective as I write this column. However challenging, it reinforces the need to further strengthen our information campaign to encourage everyone to receive their jab — to play their part in fighting the public health crisis.

Ultimately, we can return safely to our schools without the need to worry for our safety, without the need to worry about the quality of education we receive. And, as an additional note, it is essential for educational institutions to take steps on improving their quality of education in the years to come.