A supremely tough decision on schools, and at this point the right call
How do you make a decision when two arguments are equally compelling? How do you weigh up what is gained and what is lost if the scale won’t tip? And how heavy the burden when choosing between the future prospects for more than 14-million school children and the immediate health concerns of the pupils and teachers who could be exposed to Covid if schools reopen now? Basic education minister Angie Motshekga and her colleagues on the council of education ministers, the National Coronavirus Command Council and the cabinet had to grapple with these questions afresh this week, ahead of the decision to delay the opening of schools.
For many pupils and parents, the delay is a disaster. Once again those with the least will suffer most. Their learning will be delayed while their more prosperous counterparts revert to online learning. For all children, however, there are undesirable consequences — their learning will slow down, they will miss their friends, they will lose out on social interactions and physical activity. Some will miss out on food parcels. Those whose parents are working will miss out on the safety of the school environment. As we report elsewhere today, there are concerns that 15% of pupils who did not return to school after last year’s disruption may be lost to schooling for good. For parents, particularly working parents, there is once again the challenge of homeschooling and child care.
Experts have previously argued that most transmissions among pupils and teachers take place in communities rather than in schools. But new evidence suggests that children are more easily infected by the new strain of the coronavirus than the earlier one. They are still significantly less likely to fall seriously ill than adults, but there is a possibility they could take the illness back to their homes and fuel the surge among the more vulnerable. Wherever the transmission takes place, it is clear that faster transmission leads to more infections, and higher hospitalisation rates.
This is something we cannot afford as our health workers face unprecedented workloads, compounded by staff shortages as many of them fall ill, and even die.
This point was raised by deputy basic education minister Reginah Mhaule when she announced the delayed opening. The decision, she said, was to provide relief to “the health system which is already struggling to cope with the current demands”. She also reminded us that Covid has left massive devastation, changing the circumstances of many of us forever, and bringing so many deaths that almost everyone knows someone who has been affected.
Schools quickly adapted last year to the challenges of Covid. The measures adopted, among them the platoon system, almost all came with a cost to education, but they allowed learning to continue. The universally recommended measures of mask wearing, sanitising, hand washing, social distancing and meeting outdoors where possible were also implemented at schools. But as any parent of a young child knows, it is close to impossible to stop close contact with other children when the break bell rings, however vigilant a teacher may be. Measures that were sufficient to cope in 2020 may not be adequate for the surge we are experiencing at the beginning of 2021.
In considering whether to close schools, the World Health Organisation recommends a risk-based approach that considers, among other things, the local epidemiology, the overall impact of the closure, and the capacity of the health authorities to respond.
We accept that the decision to delay the opening of schools is the correct one at this stage in the pandemic. Once more pupils, teachers and parents will have to find the resilience and courage to face the disruption. Our gratitude, again, goes to the health-care workers who are doing everything they can to get us through this pandemic to a time when our children can resume their education in more optimal circumstances.
Measures that were sufficient in 2020 may not be adequate for the surge