Face-to face teaching for parishes with low cases

THE EDITOR, Madam:

JAMAICA IS a reactionary society. Many didn’t have the vision and foresight to know that virtual teaching was just nonsense and impractical. I live in Jamaica and know that Internet connection is a major problem, and many parents and educators are not so great with technology. Education is a right, not a privilege, so why are we letting COVID-19 give some students privilege to education and not a right?

Some of us were mocked for saying virtual teaching isn’t practical and that face to face is the way to go. I can bet that if we have faceto-face schools, we would have a 75 per cent turnout instead of the 36 per cent we are now seeing.

According to the studies, the likelihood of children beating the virus is high. Yes, many adults will be scared, but in life risks will have to be taken. Out of the latest 146 deaths due to the coronavirus, how many were under the age of 18? A child is more likely to die from the flu, car accident or drowning than from COVID-19.

If I were over 60 years of age, I would want my grandchildren getting an education and not to be stopped because of me.

I am not telling children not to wear masks and properly sanitise themselves, but we’ve seen that in spite of that persons still catch the virus.

FOUR HIGH PARISHES

As of Monday, there were 7,813 positive cases in Jamaica with 85,322 samples tested, with an overall positive rate of 9.12 per cent.

Out of the 14 parishes, only four have over 400 COVID-19 positive cases – Kingston and St Andrew with 2,831; St Catherine, 1,774; St James, 670; and Clarendon, 426 cases.

I believe there could be virtual schools only in those four parishes and the other 10 can have face-toface teaching. Under 400 should be the starting figure, then it could increase to under 700 or under 1,000 positive COVID-19 cases.