THE EDITOR: Now that the return to full schooling seems on course with the last batch of students – infants to Standard 4 – hoping to resume in term two or three, the most critical task of the Minister of Education is to give parents the assurance that everything is being done to deal with problems arising, so much so that there will be no panic leading to the hysteria of wanting the children to return to “lockdown” if cases of covid19 crop up in schools.

Make no mistake, cases will arise from time to time, as with a Port of Spain school recently, but with parents now getting a sense that children can’t remain home forever – to quote the minister’s sentiments – and that we have to learn to live with this virus, they must be made to feel confident that even with this risk of the virus they can see and appreciate the specific tasks being undertaken to cope with any covid19 eventuality in our schools as follows:

1. All staff in schools are doubly vaccinated and that vaccination for all children is on course as a matter of urgency.

2. That all covid19 protocols in out of the classroom are strictly observed with academic staff vigilant within the classrooms and supervisory personnel circulating in the washrooms, on the corridors, on the playfield, to ensure compliance.

3. That morning assembly be covid19 oriented to reinforce awareness of the virus.

4. That parents play an active role in developing covid19 awareness and ensuring that there is strict compliance with protocols at home and to and from school.

5. That each school is outfitted with a triangle of linkages involving a hotline between school, ambulance service and treatment centres, if a student get ill.

6. As a precursor to five, each school should have its own cubicle with appropriate medical personnel to do preliminary assessment of symptoms, to test and to dispense medication even as the principal seeks to activate the ambulance and health service.

7. That admission and treatment at health centres be given top priority.

8. That parents/guardians be immediately informed.

I have provided some of the specifics above which could include others, because no generalised, wishy-washy expression of hope will do. The ministry cannot be so naïve as to not be aware of how difficult a choice is this for parents – sending their children back to school with all the anti-virus, anti-vaccine sentiment around.

Deaths from covid19 have become fairly routine, though thankfully seemingly on the decline, and Carnival is in the air, both of which are not exactly confidence boosting, and the fact that we are not yet 50 per cent vaccinated adds to the uncertainty that parents must feel in sending their children to school.

Which is why boosting parents’ confidence must go beyond wishful thinking into particular strategies calculated to minimise the covid19 threat to their children.

DR ERROL N BENJAMIN

via e-mail