To School or Not To School


Corona Virus Spread - Check! 
Pandemic Worldwide - Check! 
Thousands Dead - Check!
Thousands sick as well - Check! 
Cure - NONE
Vaccine - NONE

and you want our children to go out and go to school where there is no way we can control how they would behave and interact with each other! You have got to be kidding me!

Please implement an ACADEMIC FREEZE... a year wouldn't hurt our kids education, but getting sick can hurt them, period! 


I am a mother, when my kids get sick, I don't get to sleep. I check on them every so often to see if they are sweating, if their backs are wet with sweat, if they are hot, I give them water, I make sure they eat, 24/7.  Yes, even the wee hours of the morning. That's what most mothers will do and will tell you. 

If my kid gets sick, I can't go to hospital to take care of them. I am not sure that they are well taken care of especially that they are sick. I don't doubt the capacity of any doctor who will care for my child, but, you have to remember that, my child is not the only sick individual in the hospital. There are many, so their attention will be divided and as a mother, I cannot sit idly by and allow my child to be neglected. I will fight tooth and nail to care for my sick child. that's just how a mother is. 

Can you imagine the agony you will put all mothers thru?? Can you even fathom the pain she will go through, not to  mention the pain the child will be put through because, mommy is not there to care for them when they are sick. Now, that is the emotional side of this issue. 

Let's go to the financial side. How much will one person need to survive this disease? Hundreds of thousands of pesos. Money, not everyone has.  If one doesn't have the money and their kids get sick... how will the children be treated? Will the government pay for their hospitalization? 

Okay. Some government officials said, ONLINE SCHOOLING. OOOhhhh... great idea? Ideally, yes! Realistically, no! Why?

Modules - provide each student with a module they can take home... Oh, truly? When the government can't even provide for the text books of the children that they have to study without or have a couple or so students share one book? Can you actually fund it? If so, why make the students of before suffer from lack of textbooks if you can actually find the cash for it?

Gadgets and the Internet - gadgets, what are you planning on giving the kids? low grade, low quality tablets sold for cheap? one they wouldn't be able to use anyways. Internet, don't kid yourselves that these children won't need access when they study at home. They would need it for research and to socialize with their peers, talk with classmates, ask questions as necessary. 

And let's be honest, not every parent has the capacity to tutor their child, that's one side of the coin, then the other is, the parent doing their kids assignments/projects themselves and save their kids the effort. Where's the learning there? 


There are so many things to consider when and if government pushes for the opening of the school year. I pray they also look at other countries who did so and now has to close down again because the numbers went up. I pray that these officials will see it, the kids studies CAN wait, as long as they're safe. What would you need the education if the children are sick or dead? I hope they will consider this. 

I'm not saying that schooling is not important, because it is, but LIVES are much more important. I hope that government will give themselves enough time to prepare for the children's schooling especially if the new normal deems it that they will be done online.  Improvement of the entire school system, teaching teachers to adapt to teaching online, how it should be done, what applications, software, hardware and all that's necessary to ensure that the kids are learning whilst ensuring their safety. Some would say that there are already systems in place where even adults study online. Yes, but most of those systems are learn at their own phase, they have the luxury of time and have the luxury of going back to the lesson on their own free time. But what about these kids who has to contend with classmates? Who don't have the luxury of fast internet, who don't have the luxury of hi tech equipment (i.e. hi end computers), or parents who can tutor them and help them out properly. Do you not believe that they will be left behind? that they might find themselves at the end of society's norms because they weren't able to keep up. Government can't just jump into this with two feet, it won't only be them who'd drown. 

So, what do you think, should school start or should we delay it further? 
 

Comments

tagabalot said…
yeah. I agree. we shouldn't risk the lives of our children