After the huge world pandemic of COVID-19 the world had to spend a couple months in quarantine and adapt to a new form of living. Schools were shut down to avoid risk of contagion, the same thing happened for offices and any other institution that involved having people gather under the same room. School is not only for learning and social support for the younger generations but it also provides in most cases childcare for the working parents.
As life had to change under those conditions, people had to adapt to whatever was available. That means that education had to go online, and students and teachers were able to stay in touch through online methods. This form allowed classes to continue until the end of the course without losing clases.
The question now is how will everything go back to what it was before? What health measurements need to be taken to ensure everyone’s safety? When would it be okay for each place to re-open without endangering their younger population?
According to a document written by UNESCO Education Sector they claim that although a wide range of educational institutions have closed down (about 90% of all sectors), three months after school closures, ministries of education are considering school reopenings, but taking into consideration extreme safety when it comes to health.
A small number of countries are reopening progressively, what needs to be taken into main consideration is the phase that the country is going through. Although some places are slowly getting off quarantine, it is not the same routine for everyone, and different measures need to be taken according to the place where it is occuring.
When it comes to reopening school systems, a methodological approach needs to be taken, things just can’t go back to normal. While some places want to begin the semester online, other schools are thinking of dividing their students so that half of them can take online courses, while others can start to attend schools. In countries like Japan, they are thinking of allowing less kids per classroom and a lot of space between each desk, so that the contact between classmates and faculty staff is as little as possible.
Other places such as Canada are deciding to avoid any type of risk when it comes to contagion, and they won’t be returning to school until January 2021. They believe that there is no such reason to expose kids into any kind of health risk, and they want to improve the online education system so that the kids receive all the information correctly.
Alternatively, it’s said that it’s important to consider individual needs when it comes to education. Low income students who are less likely to have devices or access to online communication need to have a bigger support than those students that have full access to internet and can continue studying online.
Something very well established by the UNESCO Education Sector is that people can’t think that everything will go back to the way it was before.
