Rethink school closure

The repercussions are serious

BIDEN wins, a helicopter crash, tabling of the 2021 Budget, the monsoon floods — seems like it’s back to normal in the last few days. Unfortunately, these happened amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which is into its third wave in Malaysia. As of yesterday, schools are again closed following the re-implementation of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in most states — this time until the end of this year’s school term.

Reportedly, school closures globally have affected 1.6 billion students, an estimated 60 per cent of the world’s student population. The pandemic has disrupted education systems, prompting an increase in distance and online learning. A new World Bank report estimates a loss of US$10 trillion in earnings over time for this “lost generation” of students. The report further says countries “will be driven off-track” to achieving their Learning Poverty goals if no remedial action is taken.

For Malaysia, school closure involves some 1.7 million students. The repercussions cannot be understated, say educationists, as closing of schools are “devastating for students and families”. Earlier this month, the NST Leader postulated that education is a basic right and children cannot be deprived of it. In the 2021 Budget, the Education Ministry continues to receive the largest allocation, at RM50.4 billion. Of the figure, RM50 million is set aside to improve Internet connectivity in institutions of higher learning. Well and good, but more can be done.

Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) believes the government should rethink this latest school closure. It proposes that Form 5 and 6 students attend faceto-face classes under stricter standard operating procedures. Teachers, says PAGE, cannot cope with the double burden of teaching previous and current forms’ syllabi. Online learning, it says, makes “teacher-student connectivity almost non-existent”. The National Union of the Teaching Profession says the government should provide interest-free loans or tax-free devices to students so they can improve their digital access for online learning. A tall order? Not so.

Here’s why. Another World Bank study says five months of school closures will result in “a loss of 0.6 years of schooling, bringing the effective learning that a student can achieve down from 7.9 to 7.3 years”. It also says close to seven million students from primary and secondary education could drop out of school due to the “income shock” of the pandemic.

Yes, the government is pursuing a variety of approaches to mitigate the closing of schools. This Leader, however, believes more should be invested in multi-platform remote learning and a wider broadband coverage for better Internet access. Now is an opportunity for the government to build an education system that is more resilient, adaptable to student needs, equitable and inclusive, with a focus on technology and the upgrading of syllabus for online teaching.

Covid-19 is indeed a crisis for today’s children. Social activists have said: “The fallout may follow them for the rest of their lives. Will they see themselves as a ‘lost generation’, whose lives will forever fall in the shadow of a global pandemic?” Only time can tell. What we can do is to continue playing a key role in educating our future generations. For, “a man without education, is like a building without foundation”.

... education is a basic right and children cannot be deprived of it.