SCHOOLS, which reopened this week, have the potential to be COVID-19 super-spreaders mainly because the government rushed the decision without first ensuring adequate safety for teachers and learners. While the decision to reopen schools, following a prolonged sabbatical as the second wave of the pandemic hit hard at the turn of the year is largely commendable, we feel a lot more still needed to be done in terms of ensuring everyone’s safety rather that leaving everything to chance. The pandemic is showing no signs of abating and it’s no surprise that the reopening of schools has coincided with slightly higher cases than shortly before. The health crisis is likely to be with us for several months, if not years to come. Given that background, there was no way schools would have remained closed, just as industries and all other key sectors of the economy have resumed operations albeit under strict safety protocols to curb the spread of coronavirus. But we note with concern the laxity in schools in terms of enforcing World Health Organisation guidelines and wonder why schools were allowed to reopen before teachers could be adequately inoculated, having initially been excluded from the prioritised frontline workers despite their unquestionable significance. As we reported in our Tuesday issue, the schools themselves opened amid a lot of chaos as some were not enforcing the prescribed safety measures such as wearing of face masks, hand sanitising, social distancing and even temperature checks. In addition to that, teachers in some government schools — who should be enforcing discipline among learners — did not turn up for class because of the ongoing labour issues, leaving pupils to themselves. This is a recipe for disaster. Children are given to all sorts of mischief and can be seen in the grounds playing all sorts of contact games, which exposes them and their communities to COVID-19. It is clear that there is an information gap which must be quickly closed by teachers and the Primary and Secondary Education ministry. Policies and actions are at great variance. The crisis is that once one school is hit by COVID-19, entire communities fall into danger and more families will perish. We witness the ruthlessness of the pandemic during the first wave. And we also experienced its brutal reign during the second wave, so we don’t want to see this happening again. Teachers may be our saviours now. They must make sure education on the pandemic is twinned with the regular academic programmes. Teachers must not wait for government to bring COVID-19 literature to schools. If our teachers relax, we are staring a brutal third wave, which will be far more dangerous than before. Please teachers, act before the situation spirals out of control.
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