LEADERS have varying suggestions on conducting classes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Children are considered by experts as “little vectors,” so the concerns of teachers – the learning facilitators, the ones who see all activities and interactions in school – ought to be heard. It is not so much a question of when classes will open. The bigger question is – are we ready?
Let us just say there will be face-to-face interactions, like in the years and months before COVID-19. Is the Philippines capable of testing all teachers, staff, students, and school bus drivers before the school year opens? Who will shoulder the expenses? Will there be a physical and transparent barrier between the teacher and students, so that if ever the teacher sneezes or coughs due to allergic rhinitis, the students will not scamper out of fear?
Given that the class size in majority of schools is big, how can each class be limited to 20 students? What will happen to the remaining 20, 40, or 60? How can all students be accommodated?
If a student coughs, will it not elicit unwelcome comments from classmates? Papers will have to be submitted for checking. Will teachers wait for 14 days before touching them? Will that even be considered in the submission of grades?
How often will the facilities be disinfected, and whose standard will be followed? Will every school be provided with non-contact thermometers and masks for all? There are many students who cannot afford to buy masks.
Other concerns are marks that will help in physical distancing, safety in commuting, disinfection of returned library and laboratory materials, parent-teacher’s meetings, modified library rules, and guidelines in the use of faculty rooms, restrooms, canteens, pathways, and corridors.
The country has millions of students. Even if they test negative for COVID-19, there is no vaccine yet to give them immunity. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) stressed, “The opening of schools is not just an education decision, but primarily a public health one that needs to assess the various factors by analyzing how to mitigate the risk of contamination.”
Unless the risk of contamination is reduced to a significant level, our leaders and policy-makers must seriously consider requiring students to stay at home and adopt online learning.
