THE Department of Education has decided to open the school year in August. Good. This gives schools (administrators and teachers) and stakeholders more than enough time to prepare. The welfare of students and school employees must be ensured amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are a few preventive measures that may be taken as a prerequisite for school opening:
* Cut down class sizes and employ class schedules that will make social distancing possible.
* Hire an adequate number of health and utility personnel at the school level.
* Install necessary facilities and utilities such as adequate hand-washing areas and ample water supply in all floors of school buildings.
* Provide needed equipment and internet connection for the conduct of distant learning, wherever necessary.
* Roll out school health programs that promote prevention of infection and ensures free treatment for every teacher, employee, and student that may get infected.
Yes, the government must have a comprehensive approach in fighting COVID-19 and in establishing the so-called “new normal” in schools following humanitarian and rights-based principles. The dismal state of the country’s education system is a major factor that lays students, teachers and non-teaching staff vulnerable to COVID-19. There’s the perennial problem of cramped classrooms, faulty facilities such as restrooms without water, and the direly lacking health and utility personnel at the school level. These merit immediate resolution.
Beyond the schools, the government must hasten the systematic mass testing which will provide us the baseline data on the concentration and scale of the outbreak and its infection rate. It has to establish sufficient isolation and quarantine facilities with enough healthcare workers. It must provide socioeconomic as well as infrastructure support to the people now and beyond.
