Mary McCarthy
Leaving children out of school until mid-April is playing a dangerous game
EVERY comment uttered by politicians on schools returning is being closely scrutinised. They must know this, so it was incredible to have Stephen Donnelly on Claire Byrne Live saying negotiations on what classes were returning were still ongoing, when hours earlier it had been referred to as a “done deal”.
I went to bed early so missed the drama, but when I switched on my phone yesterday morning it took me a while to catch up on the angry messages and discover actually everything was OK: Donnelly had clarified it on Twitter, and the phased reopening was on track.
Actually I should make a clarification myself, because everything is far from OK.
Emotions are running high on the schools issue because most secondary pupils won’t return until April 12.
This means that after a disrupted 2020 these children will have had just six weeks of learning in their classroom between Christmas and September.
This is going to have shocking implications. How could it not?
It makes perfect sense for younger children to go back as soon as possible; the early years in secondary are just as crucial.
My mum is a retired teacher and she always maintains the Junior Cert is so important as it sets the tone for future learning.
The Irish Youth Foundation’s (IYF) mission is to level the playing field between children living in disadvantage and their peers.
Sarah Edmonds of the IYF tells me second year is such an important juncture for engagement.
“In normal times it is challenging to keep many vulnerable children engaged with school and a positive transition to secondary school is a crucial time, with second year in particular very important. We don’t have any hard research yet on the fallout, but we fear it could be a lot worse than expected,” she said
“It is scary how our youth workers have lost contact with so many children and young people they support as a result of the pandemic.
“There are 16-year-olds who will now be working with their youth worker and school completion officer in a whole different way. It will no longer be attempting to keep them in school, but it will be now responding and supporting them when they get into trouble,” she said.
In addition, there are thousands of children with additional needs in mainstream classes who have not yet returned despite being promised they would be prioritised.
Why promise one thing and then turn on the radio silence? If you are looking to upset people this is a sure way to do so.
A parent told me her school had rung her to say her son, who has autism, was going back only to be told a week later ‘the deal is off’. That caused the most distress in her house.
She is now delighted her child will return on March 1, but feels sorry for so many other parents who do not have this hope.
Over-promising and under-delivering has not just been limited to the schools as the vaccination communication has also caused a lot of anger. People are frustrated and sloppy communications will upset them.
Tempers fray because parents are worried about their kids and they feel distrustful of commitments made. Another issue upsetting parents is the rolling reviews of the impact of reopening after each phase.
So what does this mean – that the next phase won’t be let back if numbers rise?
Many parents also tell me they are letting their teenagers hang out with their friends now anyway as the alternative is for them to be left sitting in their room playing video games all day. They see it as the lesser of two evils.
Go to a park or a playground and you can see the play dates have ramped up again with younger children.
Research already tells us the pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of children and young people and school closures cause impairment to the physical and mental health of children.
A systematic review concluded that school closures as part of broader social distancing measures are associated with a range of emotional, behavioural and restlessness/inattention problems and overall psychological well-being.
Ask parents what they think of the above and many will confirm that they have these issues in their homes.
We need to take a helicopter view and try to protect everyone in this pandemic – are we not in this together?
Every single death from Covid is heartbreaking and everything must be done to protect our elderly who are most at risk.
But there must be a better way to manage this than keeping children out of school.
Could we follow other countries and bring back secondary kids part-time?
To leave so many of them out of school until mid-April is playing a dangerous game.
It is scary how our youth workers have lost contact with so many children