With the first of September almost upon us, India inches ever so closer towards Unlock 4.0. With the number of cases in India having crossed well over the 3.4 million mark, what could we possibly expect from the newest edition of the “unlockdown”. When rumors of schools and colleges re-opening surfaced, I was taken aback. With the cases skyrocketing along with the number of deaths, was thinking of opening up schools and colleges the right thing to do? I decided to find out.
How Other Countries Fared?
Firstly, to determine how a school would work in a post-corona world, I decided to look at places that had already opened up schools at this point. I took a look at countries that already had tried opening their schools, as a way to measure the success/failure (Did not look at countries like Sweden which never shut their schools).
In countries like Finland and South Africa, the class sizes had been reduced, to keep the students in smaller groups. This, along with mandatory usage of masks and enforcing social distancing ensured that the schools were able to control the situation.
However, after going through several papers, I realized that the only countries which re-opened their schools were countries where the virus was nowhere as widespread as it is in India. The only other country which has re-opened schools despite having similar numbers like India was the USA.
According to the American Academy of Paediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association(Couzin-Frankel, Vogel, and Weiland, 2020), the number of positive cases among students and teachers was up by around 90% ever since schools were re-opened, and these are just the cases which have been reported. With a good chunk of the country in denial over the very existence of what Trump has dubbed the “China Virus”, there are several cases which aren’t even reported.
The Indian Context
In all likelihood, the Indian context will not yield different results. There has been a lot of evidence to support that yes, children are not as affected by the virus as adults are. (Götzinger, Florian, et al., 2020) However, even though in many cases children exhibit mild or no symptoms, the main threat lies in the fact that they can still be carriers, symptomatic, or asymptomatic.
Hence, even if one person in the school is a carrier, they can pass it onto everyone they come into contact with, and in turn, they can pass It on to their families. In the Indian context, where many children live in joint families, this puts not only their parents but also their grandparents at risk.
One also has to understand that India simply does not have the faculty to pull off what American schools did. Most government schools are old and worn, with no capacity to further divide the students. The sheer number of students which Indian schools have to support makes enforcing social distancing extremely difficult. To put it into context, the average number of students in American primary school classes is 23.1 (Rampbell, 2009) while the average number of students in an Indian school class varies from 32-45 (Not definite data available). Thus, by the virtue of having better school infrastructure and lesser students, the USA was able to reopen schools while implementing precautionary measures. However, this will not be feasible when schools reopen in India, rendering it even more unsafe.
The Cost of This Pandemic on Education
However, despite having this information at their disposal, several experts still believe that schools should be reopened, and with good reason. While shutting down schools was undoubtedly the only path to take once Corona hit, it opened up a whole new can of worms and had several ramifications.
Let us first take a look at how this impacted children from the socially backward strata of life. One of the most obvious and disturbing consequences of the culmination of lockdown and schools shutting down has been the meteoric rise of child marriage. The number of child marriages has shot up significantly across India, especially in Maharashtra (Das, 2020) and Karnataka (Khan, 2020). Schools have acted almost as defenses, to shield young girls from child marriage. However, with no prospect of education in the near future and the need for money in the family, young girls are being married off.
Along with this, to increase the monetary incomes of the households, the boys are being made to work, and there is a good chance that even when schools reopen, the parents won’t let them return. In a country where there were over 110 million children in 2011, (Ministry of Home Affairs, 2011) which just has grown since, if this persists, we will be part of a country where the majority of the adult population will remain illiterate. With a lack of resources and the internet, these students do not even have the option of online education.
On top of this, an issue which students from every social stratum have been facing is one of mental health. Several children live in abusive households, and the school serves as a means of escapism, hope for a better future. However, with the absence of schools, they have to live within the confines of their homes, with their abusers. Studies have shown a drop in the mental wellbeing of students all over the world. While students might not exactly love studies, school is the place where they have a “purpose”. They have friends and resources they use. There is such a thing as too much free time and that is what is happening right now.
Students have grown tired of staying at home, and this has lead to several cases of depression. Even though for the relatively privileged people, online schools have started, it is not exactly easy. The teachers expect the students to behave in their homes as they would behave in schools, and the parents tell them that they are at home, so they should stop behaving as if they are in school. So whether it is your dad turning up on your video to sweep the room or you being swamped with school work, while having to wash utensils every day, even online schools have presented a set of problems.
Along with mental health problems, many studies suggest a learning loss. Students have lost their readiness to study and even their social interactions have taken a hit.
To Open Or Not To Open!
At the end of the day, both sides have genuinely strong points upon whether schools should re-open or not. Personally, despite wanting to go back to my campus, I don’t think it will or should happen any time soon, but that comes from a place of privilege where online education is a reality, and I can still connect with my friends through video calls and Netflix parties.
However, in the grand scheme of things, maybe physical schools reopening wouldn’t be the worst things. What I can say is that I hope that whatever decision is taken, is taken after weighing the pros and cons of the situation, and not simply because people simply decide to ignore the reality of the situation. We have to keep in mind that India is now a hub for Corona Virus, with the highest number of per day cases in the world.
Of course, this will remain an on-going debate and no solution will leave anyone satisfied. If you have any thoughts/ arguments about the same, do drop them below!
Bibliography:
Couzin-Frankel, J., Vogel, G., and Weiland, M., 2020. School Openings Across Globe Suggest Ways To Keep Coronavirus At Bay, Despite Outbreaks. [online] Science | AAAS. Available at: <https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/school-openings-across-globe-suggest-ways-keep-coronavirus-bay-despite-outbreaks>.
Götzinger, Florian, et al. “COVID-19 in children and adolescents in Europe: a multinational, multicentre cohort study.” The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health (2020).
Das, M., 2020. Child Marriages in Maharashtra Soar during lockdown. Time of India, [online] Available at: <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/child-marriages-in-maharashtra-soar-during-lockdown/articleshow/77581915.cms> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
Khan, L., 2020. Sharp rise in child marriages during lockdown. The Hindu, [online] Available at: <https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/sharp-rise-in-child-marriages-during-lockdown/article32379348.ece> [Accessed 30 August 2020].
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