According to an open letter by 1500 members of the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), continued closures risk “scarring the life chances of a generation of young people.”
If we take a look around the world, some countries like Taiwan, Nicaragua and Sweden never closed their schools. Some schools, after reopening, have imposed strict limits on contact between children, while others let them play freely. Some have made masks mandatory while others have left it to personal discretion. Some closed temporarily if just one student was diagnosed with COVID-19; others stayed open even when multiple children or staff were affected, sending only ill people and direct contacts into quarantine.
Data from research journals suggests a successful formula: a combination of keeping student groups small, requiring masks and social distancing. To add to this is the assumption that younger children rarely spread the virus to one another or bring it home. But opening safely depends on how much virus is circulating in the community, which affects the likelihood that students and staff will bring COVID-19 into their classrooms.
Denmark was the first country in Europe to reopen schools by assigning children to small groups that could congregate at recess, giving ways to those groups as much space and fresh air as possible, even teaching classes in a graveyard. Some classes in Belgium met in churches to facilitate social distancing. Finland has kept normal class sizes, but prevents classes from mixing with one another. But many school campuses do not allow social distancing—the answer, albeit a comfortable one, for them is masks.
In China, South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam — where masks are already widely accepted and worn by many during the flu season — schools require them for almost all students and their teachers. China allows students to remove masks only for lunch, when children are separated by glass or plastic partitions. Many argue that this too is stifling. “These are children, not animals to be put in pens and cages,” they argue.
In a country like Pakistan, will schools, that are barely able to pay their teachers an acceptable salary, be able to put SOPs into place and make schools the safe, hygienic places they should be? Is social distancing, even possible with children? Will there be shifts with teachers working round the clock like doctors?
The other question that faces us is of schools reopening. Are parents deeming it safe to send their children back to school?
Lamya, mother of three, is skeptical about whether the downward curve being reported by the government is true or not. “I feel SOPs are impossible to put into place in big schools due to the sheer number of children enrolled. As a parent I am afraid to risk exposure to my children’s health.” Even though she admits that education is suffering, yet Lamya feels we must be patient until a cure for the virus is found.
Farhat Dairkee, a prominent educationist for the last three decades, feels that we need to carve out a ‘new normal’. “A normal that will be more cautious, careful and observant about both the schools and the parents.” She feels that online classes cannot be a long-term solution. “However much you teach the languages, Math and Sciences, but with online schooling how can you teach social behaviour, empathy, problem-solving, critical thinking and team work to your children?”
Ms. Dairkee, with her experience of leading top private schools in the country, even has an action plan, “We could have a shorter school week and have shifts and include SOPs which incorporate social distancing along with a thoughtful balance of social interaction.” An academician to the core, she expounds on how schools must play their role with sincerity to provide an ambiance to nurture physical and mental wellness rather than just an excuse for collecting fees.
Ms. Rashida Murtaza, Head at Habib Girls Schools, however, believes that reopening schools will bring substantial risks for children and teachers and may even leave an irreversible impact. “Parents have become used to and have invested heavily in e-learning and most of them believe that education should continue from the safe parameters of the home.”
All said and done, the Private Schools Association is desperate to resume education in schools. According to the Association, 75 per cent of private schools are located on rented properties and 25 percent have closed down due to their inability to pay rent and utility bills. As for government schools, their students are bereft of any sort of education for nearly half a year now.
Yet, the million dollar question is that looms is: “What happens when a student or teachers test positive for COVID 19?” In Germany, for example, classmates and teachers of an infected student are sent home for 2 weeks, but other classes continue. I guess the time has come for us all to decide which option has the greater pros as compared to the cons.
The head of the Private Schools Association, Sindh, Mr. Gul Mohammed Soomro, says that schools must come together in a show of utter unity and reopen on the 15th of September, 2020, come what may. “Yes, we must ensure SOPs — three hour shifts; a maximum of 15 students in one room; minimum mobility; no recess time or lunch sharing and, most importantly, a pick and drop of students only by parents,” he says solemnly.
When asked why we simply can’t continue with online classes, he says it’s not even a faint shadow of real education. “If its information one is looking to share, online classes may suffice — in fact there is a lot of information already available online. But, education is not just knowledge — it is nurturing, etiquette, teaching life skills, confidence and responsibility. Students are sitting at home, falling prey to bad practices and unmentionable habits via the use of media. We must bring them back to school otherwise the effects of this moral malaise may be irreversible.”
He shares how there have been reports of teachers committing suicide in the country. “Did the Ahsaas Relief Program make any inclusions for the education sector? Do you expect a teacher, for whom respect is life, to stand in a line for a charity of 12,000 rupees?”
According to Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood, educational institutions across the country hope to be reopened after a nearly five-month hiatus on September 15, provided that the “health indicators improve”. With bated breath, whispered prayers and wary eyes, schools, teachers, students and parents await a better tomorrow — a tomorrow where going to school doesn’t come at the price of health. 
Schools shut down in Pakistan as well as around the world when coronavirus pandemic began to spread its insidious tentacles. It was the end of February, just two months into the much anticipated year 2020, when lockdowns swiftly fell into place and, in Pakistan, schools were the first to shut down.
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