STRAIGHT TO THE POOL ROOM
OCEAN Grove’s Liam, Andrew and Makayla Staehr couldn’t wait to make a splash at the Bellarine Aquatic Centre following the announcement that indoor pools and gyms will re-open across regional Victoria from midnight tonight.
SUMMER school and tutors should be offered to struggling students to catch up on lessons lost in lockdown, a new Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report says.
It calls for schools to stay open “wherever possible” during the pandemic and for homeschooled students to have daily contact with teachers.
Launched in Paris on Thursday by former federal finance minister Mathias Cormann, now OECD secretarygeneral, it says young children and those from poor families should be given priority for inschool learning during the pandemic.
“The early years are foundational for the social, emotional and cognitive development of children, and prolonged exposure to screens is neither feasible nor desirable at such a young age,” it states.
“Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may find it more difficult to study from home, suffer from low internet connectivity or lack parental support at home.”
The OECD report says masks, ventilation, testing, quarantine, vaccination and individual classroom closures should be an alternative to shutting down entire schools.
It recommends summer holiday catch-up classes, small-group tutoring after school and counselling for students left behind in lockdowns.
The report sheds light on how Covid-19 infected countries have kept schools open during the pandemic.
France kept schools open for kids in years 6-7, Germany kept half the students at home with half in class, while senior high schools in Belgium, France, Spain and Switzerland stayed open despite high infection rates, and in the Czech Republic, only infected children were quarantined.
Mr Cormann warned kids from poor families risked being left behind during lockdowns.
He said kids from disadvantaged families were expected to take five generations to reach the average national income as adults across industrialised nations in the OECD.