India’s schoolchildren need their childhood back

Source: The Hindu

Relevance: This article explains the need to reopen schools and recommendations to open them.

Synopsis:

India needs to stop asking whether schools are safe and start acknowledging that in-person school is essential

Introduction:

Malls, bars, restaurants, and some offices are open, but schools have been closed for 16 months and counting. But schools are not. This situation needs to change.

Read more: Our children need education. How much longer can schools remain shut?
Why do we need to reopen schools?
  • In-person school education teaches children to share, wait for their turn, negotiate, and compromise. Depriving these will affect societal learning and development.
  • For children from economically weak backgrounds, schools are a key source of nutrition (Mid-day meal scheme).
  • For some, schools serve as safe spaces from the chaos of their homes.
  • Many children do not have educated parents or cannot afford home tutors, for them, the denial of education results in learning losses.
  • Further, the researchers agree that children are at a low risk of developing severe COVID-19 compared to adults.
  • Results of Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) Fourth National Sero-Prevalence Survey.
    • More than 80 percent of children from both urban and rural areas had antibodies. This means they were already infected and developed antibodies.
Read more: Let’s chalk out a plan to reopen our schools before it gets too late
ICMR recommendation to open schools:
  • It will be wise to open primary schools first and then secondary schools.
  • Vaccinate all support staff and teachers before opening the schools
Read more: Why are government schools not the first choice?
Suggestions to reopen schools:
  • There are a host of recommendations on how to open schools safely, including by the World Bank, the Lancet COVID-19 Commission India Task Force etc. The government can follow them.
  • Start schools in areas where the community level of infection is low.
  • Declare school staff and teachers as frontline workers
  • Public campaigns to make school staff and parents aware of the low risk of transmission in schools and low severity in children
  • Upgrade school infrastructure to facilitate a hybrid system of learning so that if parents are not willing, they can continue with online learning
  • Formulate and issue guidance on COVID-19 protocols to be adopted by schools
  • Greater investment in healthcare facilities and implementation of systems to track the local levels of infections.
  • Adopt a rational policy where 50% of students attend physical classes on certain days of the week, while the other 50% come to school on the remaining days.
Read more: A pandemic-optimized plan for kids to resume their education

Overall, India needs to stop asking whether schools are safe and start acknowledging that in-person school is essential.

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