Should schools re-open?

Seventeen months into the pandemic and there is abundant evidence of the damage the prolonged closure of school has done to the children. The ongoing school closure is unarguably the worst and longest education disruption in India.

With downturn of the cases reported per day everyone have the same question in their mind "Should schools re-open in India?" Lockdown has deprived children of their school life and dispossessed them of their education as well. Although technology came to the rescue by making online classes the solution, nothing really can replace physical classes. BUT! is it really viable and sane to open up schools just yet? India haven't yet vaccinated enough of it's population. As a matter of fact only 39% of the population have recieved first dose , nevertheless those below 18 are not even allowed to be vaccinated just yet. With the third wave lurking around and predicted to be a severe threat to the age group below 18.

Israel has one of the best vaccination records but yet saw the worst per day cases since the inception of COVID-19 after most of it's population was vaccinated. Currently talks are held on for a 'third dose'! As said by the Mad Titanian Thanos "Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same." This instance just proves the severity of COVID 19 is unprecedented. Children do have high immunity but that works against them rather than for them. High immunity prevents the early signs of COVID 19 and while the time it's detected it's a severe case. I've known young people lose their life within 3 days of testing positive for COVID 19. Indeed students are missing out on their education and not to forget that ⅔ rd of Indian families do not have access to laptop , desktop , mobile or most importantly internet and hence online classes are a distant dream for them. Lots of unfortunate cases came up of underprivileged students committing suicide as they couldn't attend online classes.

 India is the 7th largest country in the entire globe and has population second best only to China in the entire world , hence the approach to opening up schools shouldn't be "one size fits all". Schools should open in districts where cases reported are below 5% and most importantly in areas where underprivileged do not have access to technology , in other places it should continue online. Recently reported in Andhra Pradesh 50 teachers and 31 students tested positive after reopening of school with all protocols in place and at 50% capacity. This should be a huge red signal for us. I am definitely of the view that schools shouldn't reopen as of now but the most practical solution would be to make both offline and online classes available.

Yes a lot many think that children are roaming about so why cannot they go to school ? Well that is personal choice and not forced upon them. Maybe 20 out of 100 students are roaming about doesn't mean we generalize them as school would have to be attended by all 100 of them. If something happens when those 20 roam about then it is the responsibility of the parents but who would take responsibility of the 100 shall schools reopen and god forbid something happens to anyone. If schools reopen parents would be compelled to send their prodigy to school whether it's against their interest or not. 

Schools will open up eventually but the approach should be very cautious. Colleges should open up and it should be mandatory for students to have taken one dose at least followed by opening of Class 9th-12th. It should be mandatory for students to have taken one dose and the staff to be fully vaccinated. Primary schools should avoid opening up as children of that age group wouldn't follow SOPs as they are too small to understand the severity of COVID. If schools open up it's a well known fact that social distancing won't be maintained at all times as friends will get together after long separation from each other and share their own tales. Sitting in the same room with masks at all time may cause health problems like dizziness and headaches. Sanitizing of classrooms on a daily basis is next to impossible. SOPs can be followed in examinations but it is highly likely that the SOPs would fail during regular classes.

COVID 19 is inevitable and hence we should open up and gradually rather than making it a hasty process. After all health is more important than marks.