It's smart to take COVID precautions as children head back to school
We all need to internalize that life cannot go back to pre-corona normal. That means that parents need to regulate what their children do and who they see outside of the classroom.
By JPOST EDITORIALIsraeli children in second grade (7 - 8 years old) using computers in a class room during a lesson at the "Janusz Korczak" school in Jerusalem. May 17, 2011.(photo credit: KOBI GIDEON/FLASH90)
The first day of school is traditionally one of unmitigated excitement for students. Even in Israel, where the opening of the school year is perennially threatened by strikes and the weather is more conducive to the beach than to learning, there’s usually a sense of renewal, hope and anticipation over moving up a grade or starting a new school.This year, however, students are also going to feel uncertainty, fear and confusion as they face the beginning of a school year unlike any that the country has ever experienced. For the first time, students will be returning to their educational frameworks or starting new ones under the dark cloud of the coronavirus pandemic.The wisdom of even opening schools is open to debate, as daily corona infections continue to skirt 2,000 – with no signs of letting up. Former Health Ministry director-general Gabi Barbash told Reshet Bet on Monday that “no normal country in the world would dare to operate the education system with an infection rate of 2,000 people per day.”But, as many experts and bodies like the World Health Organization have pointed out, keeping children home is also detrimental to their well-being, and children will suffer more from the closure of schools than from exposure to coronavirus in the classroom.Already having had the second half of the school year decimated in the spring, education and government officials are determined that pupils will head back to school.This has not gone without controversy. While Education Minister Yoav Gallant announced that the school year will open as scheduled on Tuesday – even in cities and local authorities designated “red” because of their high rate of coronavirus – Prof. Ronni Gamzu, the country’s corona czar, said that it makes no sense for school to begin in red cities.In addition, only on Monday – the day before schools were set to open – the Israel Teachers Union agreed to postpone a two-day strike until Thursday, September 3.The union, however, did express concern that no solution had been found for workers deemed to be at high risk for the virus, in particular primary school teachers and approximately 1,500 kindergarten staff.At the same time, parents are also apprehensive about sending their kids back to school. The National Parents Association said that they would consider not sending their students on Tuesday if they are only guaranteed two days in the classrooms and the rest from home, which they say puts their children at risk on multiple fronts. Parents across the country are saying that leaving fifth- and sixth-grade students alone at home for online learning is unreasonable.The current outline says that kindergarten children and first and second graders will study as normal; third and fourth graders will study in capsules at school; and fifth and sixth graders will study in small groups at school and part-time from home. School days will range in length and be held at different hours in order to accommodate the capsules.Amid this makeshift framework – and the trepidation that teachers, parents and students are undoubtedly feeling – there are a number of steps that all of us can take to make sure that back to school doesn’t necessarily translate into a sharp increase in infections.We all need to internalize that life cannot go back to pre-corona normal, at least not for quite a while. That means that parents need to regulate what their children do and who they see outside of the classroom.For the first few weeks of school, visits between students and older grandparents should be limited or halted. In addition, children’s visits to friends must be kept to a minimum and supervised with proper social distancing. In closed rooms, masks should be worn even by children in lower grades – and distance should be maintained not only in the classroom, but also on buses and trains.The school year going ahead should not be seen as a green light for people to behave as if the virus is behind us. Classrooms filled with students pose a great risk of intensifying the virus’s proliferation. And unless everyone does their part to be smart and adapt their behavior to lessen the chances of infection, a nationwide detention will likely be on the way.
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