Johnson announced that “two weeks from today, pupils and students in all schools and further education settings can safely return to face-to-face teaching, supported by twice weekly testing of secondary schools and college pupils”, giving secondary schools responsibility and time to sort out the phased return in the first week as well as arranging testing thrice. Despite scientists warning that opening schools was “likely to increase effective R by a factor of 1.1 to 1.5 (10 per cent to 50 per cent)”, the prime minister felt it was in the public's best interest to continue with the procedure. However, after talking to secondary school pupils, it is clear to see that this is not the case. Many pupils stated ‘we would rather sacrifice another couple of weeks or months than have our summer or longer taken away from us’
The damage of stop-start schooling has no doubt taken a toll on our country’s students, so opening schools at this point in time means risking undoing our progress and measures, surely it is not the right approach? Not only does it allow potentially more dangerous mutations to occur, it also results in adults gathering at pick up times-some who may be of older age and more vulnerable and children who travel on public transport are more likely to be exposed to multiple people.
Johnson insists that schools are “the best places for our young people to be”but may have not considered the personal thoughts of our young people. Many who feel that returning to school so abruptly is causing them much more anxiety than being home. Pupils have suggested the idea of hybrid learning, a form of learning that can be seen in some states in the USA. It comprises a few days of the week in-school with face-to-face learning and a few days at home on online school. This seems like the perfect way to slowly get children back into the swing of normal school life, without causing the stress and dread of being thrown back into reality. It would also allow scientists to gather results more slowly and safely on the impact of school students returning.
Surely if such high restrictions are needed in school, in order to keep our teachers and students safe, it is not the right time for schools to return. With teachers and children feeling uneasy as march the 8th closes in, school life changes once again.
