One imagines that a great many parents heaved a collective sigh of relief at the announcement by the Ministry of Education that public schools will reopen on September 6 for face-to-face teaching. Placing children back on school benches among their peers, albeit not as close as they were before, since social distancing is still going to be observed, would seem to indicate a return to some semblance of normalcy. However, this is far from the case.
The ministry said its decision to reopen schools came as a response to calls from the “majority of parents” and because of the learning loss observed among children, some of whom have dropped out and will not be warming benches come September 6. The latter is true in most places around the world where schools were forced to close as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guyana is among the countries where online and at-home learning was uneven and in some cases non-existent. What all children everywhere lost, however, was the social interaction with their peers that in very many cases enhances learning. In Guyana there were minimal — if any at all — actions taken to fill that void. The children returning to classrooms on September 6, of course barring those in Grades 10, 11 and 12, who were able to go back last year, have no doubt been altered psychosocially by the circumstances they have endured over the last year and perhaps some teachers as well.
Already, therefore, there are signs that there will be more than the usual bumps and kinks that obtain when schools reopen after the August holidays. Add to this mix, COVID-19. By now, everyone should be attuned to the fact that this virus is going nowhere and we all have to learn to live with it. Because community spread is vigorous here, the Ministry of Education, no doubt in consultation with the Ministry of Health, has issued several guidelines that will govern the way public schools operate once they reopen.
Though it is a little late in the day, given that it typically takes 14 days after the second dose for the body to build optimal immunity, children aged 12 to 17 years old are being offered the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, which was just recently fully approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. It is not mandatory and some parents have already said no to the offer, even in some instances where they themselves have been inoculated.
Further, the ministry has warned that teachers who choose not to be vaccinated will need to submit weekly negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. This will also apply to all other school staff. The knee-jerk and somewhat senseless reaction to this by the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) does not augur well for education in general.
This newspaper reported that GTU President Mark Lyte posted a response on his Facebook page in which he stated inter alia that the union was withdrawing its participation from the present assessment of schools and all other planned engagements with the ministry until the directive was retracted. He further said, “We are not opposed to vaccination, but it must be voluntary”.
Since the ministry has not mandated vaccinations for teachers, one wonders exactly what it is that Mr Lyte is opposed to. Perhaps it is the weekly PCR test that must be done at an approved private facility, which seems to indicate that teachers will have to bear this burden. Granted, this would be financially onerous, moreso when weighed against free inoculation. Maybe Mr Lyte would like the Ministry of Education to provide unvaccinated teachers with free weekly testing. If so, he should have the intestinal fortitude to make a case for this. Teachers should be big on communication, should they not?
Perchance Mr Lyte is objecting to the weekly testing altogether as it can be slightly invasive. If this is the case then what alternative is he recommending? As stated earlier, community spread of COVID-19 is rampant in this country. The risk of unvaccinated teachers and other school staff spreading it to children and vice versa is not one that should be taken. Children have been and are contracting COVID-19 and dying in some instances, though not as frequently as adults. Weekly testing, therefore, would protect both the adults and their charges, particularly if done right after the return to school every Monday. Since it would not only be unconscionable, but impossible to test the student population weekly, this is obviously the next best option.
That said, there are other huge obstacles to manoeuvre including the lack of social distancing in public transportation (read minibuses) which many children use to get to and from school. Getting children back in full learning mode after what has been a prolonged break for many of them will also prove an uphill task as well as completing the curriculum in restricted circumstances. One imagines there will be alternating days and double sessions at some schools.
While its mandate is representing teachers, who admittedly are often taken for granted, the GTU should not lose sight of the fact that the children are the priority here. Remaining at the table and ensuring that the measures put in place to facilitate the reopening of schools are sound and protect the health and safety of teachers and children would be the better choice.
