Daily Times

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, schools and kinder cares were mushrooming throughout the lengths and breadths of our cities determinedly working like factories where children are put on a production line and rolled out at the other end in groups and batches. However, with the corona virus affecting all other sectors in the country, these schools and educational institutions had to resort to anabrupt shutdown. It took some time for the schools to recourse to an alternative system of learning for the children. The school, parents, and the government, were completely unprepared for the shutdown. The digital switch took some time to work. But the parents and family members failed to provide continuity for children due to lack of digital familiarity, technical readiness, low screen penetration, and issues with internet connectivity. Students living away from urban hubs had to bear-with all the frustration and hindrance. Those attending classes through internet thought it was a useless idea. Thirteen years old Yakta , student of 8th grade in a private school puts her experience like this; “I think school in these times is a careless idea since Pakistan’s coronavirus death toll has surpassed 6000. Online teaching is frustrating and I don’t see the point of teaching five to six kids in class when ten or more kids are not attending classes. It is hard to progress to new concepts and I don’t think I have “learned” much of our actual syllabus. Nowadays, I see it is a trend for random adults to come in classes uninvited and prank pupils and teachers. One of them hacked into our class and started playing a recorded tape with foul language as a “prank”. They usually post it on YouTube. Do they think it is so funny to play a voice recording of someone swearing in an online meeting of 12-year-old kids?” While students had their difficulties, at the same time,teachers were also not prepared to adapt and respond with change. Despite the effort to keep the system running,the new scheme of online-learning could never satisfy both the children as well as the teachers.

The recent government’s decision to reopen schools after a country-wide five-month closure has brought some hope. Probably an opportunity is present to re-start the system to function as it was earlier. This newshas come with an encouraging reduction in Covid-19 spread. The government’s smart lockdown policy and effective implementation of containment measures in virus hotspots seem to have rendered hopeful results.The assessmentto open schools was made after studying the statistics and graphs, comparing new cases in the country to those in the other countries which have already reopened schools. The lowered new case levels have made a reasonable case for a cautious attempt to reopen schools.If the figures remain manageable despite our blatant carelessness as a nation, we may see our children going to school once again.

The school closures have disrupted crucial facets of the economic and social environment in almost every country since the pandemic outbreak. With the epidemic entering its sixth month, school reopening has become increasingly unavoidable across the globe.The pressure of significant learning losses for students has acted negatively on the psychology of parents as well as teachers. Besides the psychological aspect, the shutdown has posed an enormous economic disruption and not all schools have enough money to be equally secure. On the other hand, fear ofsevere losses and bankruptcies by private schoolshas forced them to deny wages to staff and teachers for several months. Especially low-cost private schools,with no hope to recuperate with the financial losses, had to declare permanent closures rendering hundreds of teachers and staff jobless. While the perceived helplessness of children without a proper school setting was being realized, it was also being apprehended that no education system in the country would be able to flawlessly reopen the schools in face of a looming pandemic threat.

Besides the psychological aspect, the shutdown has posed an enormous economic disruption and not all schools have enough money to be equally secure. Fear of severe losses and bankruptcies by private schools has forced them to deny wages to staff and teachers for several months

Pakistan was one of the first six countries that promulgated a countrywide school closure. However, since May 2020, seventy-two countries have reopened schools. Pakistan has declared to reopen schools on September 15, 2020, subject to continued progress in controlling the outbreak. The final decision for reopening would be subject to review by the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC). Earlier Pakistan Private Schools Association declared a reopening of schools starting August 15, 2020, which could not be implemented. While we hope to see schools opening their gates for students, Pakistan would not be the first or only country to re-open the educational institutions. Global experience suggests that a subsequent closing of schools accompanied the reopening of the schools in most countries. However, inour case, there is the additional complication of numerous school systems; within the government, public sector, and beyond.Pakistan has never faced such an uncertain scenario ever before. Uncertainty about the behavior of the virus prevails despite all the aggressive research so far. We know that the virus has behaved differently in different countries and at different times in the same locations. So nobody is aware of the actual risks of reopening.The government as well as parents know that it would be difficult for any school, college, or university, no matter how better equipped or resourced they might be, to implement a fool-proof plan to prevent virus spread.

Beyond doubt, implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and responsiveness for implementation is a challenge per se. For the government, it would be required to monitor the situation for virus spread and reopen only when risk is minimal. The government is also expected to step-in to enforce government SOPs making sure that school administration, students, families, and the general public are educated through deliberately planned information campaigns about the risk. For schools, limitations on infrastructure and facilities may put more managerialpressure on resuming schooling. Educational institutions would have to plan prioritized learning and concentrate on key topics and themes to restore the syllabus dictated education. Instructional speed favoring the students has to be regulated considering the gap that has occurred in the studies and well as the student’s routine. Staggered reopening for various levels and grades would be required under a proper plan where students with lower risk (due to their age profile, ability to comprehend and respond to SOPs) may be allowed. Schools have to institute internal SOPs and establish a system of checks at premises. Educational institutes should have a different safety plan for different age groups. The availability of basic facilities (toilets and hand-washing) & infrastructure in schools to meet the protocols and guidelines is also important. The school may also require their teachers to be trained in the method of instruction through mixed and distance models. New and safe procedures will have to adopt in handling and disseminating learning materials.

When schools reopen, the policymakers, parents, and teachers, and even children have to be mindful of the threat and the reality it carries. School staff and student families need to see each other as partners in effective planning which reduces the risk of infection spread. The need for robust communication and cooperation across all levels will be crucial. Let’s hope that all the stakeholders get together and show a spirit of common responsibility to keep our children safe while doing their bid in the fight against the pandemic.

The writer is a versatile analyst and speaker on contemporary issues