Children are back to school for face-to-face classes. Though learning is still in “hybrid” mode, or a mix of face-to-face and virtual learning on certain days of the week, many parents are still apprehensive. And since the order of the Department of Education (DepEd) already calls for a full face-to-face, onsite learning setup by November 2022, the disquietude is perfectly understandable.
The children are excited to go back, but are the schools ready? Is our education system infrastructure prepared? Are protection measures against Covid-19 sufficient?
And the biggest question of parents amid the confusion regarding what health protocols should be followed: “What if a classmate contracts Covid-19? What will they do? How will the school or the government help?”
At the most recent “Stop COVID Deaths” webinar titled “May Covid-19 and klasmeyt ng anak ko: Is it safe for my child to go back to school” organized by the University of the Philippines, the UP Manila NIH National Telehealth Center, together with the UP Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), Dr. Anna Ong-Lim, Member, DOH Technical Advisory Group, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Consultant of the PGH, said that the overall goal is about avoiding being tagged a close contact of a potential Covid-19 patient so as not to get infected or infect others.
Essentially, she said the most important thing to learn to stay safe in school.
Though there is a recent uptake in the number of cases in the past weeks, what’s good about the situation now is that hospitalization does not necessarily follow after having Covid-19. “We have already decoupled cases from severe disease and death due to vaccination.”
Online learning: the pros and cons
Due to the many community lockdowns imposed by the national government, the DepEd called for online learning as an instruction mode since kids cannot go back to schools. Dr. Ong-Lim said that online learning had its benefits, particularly on flexibility, the opportunity for individualized attention in learning, the anonymity factor also helped shy children be able to express themselves better, and learning was student-centered in many cases.
However, the disadvantages were also seen among students who had no capacity to buy gadgets, weak internet signals, concerns about quality education especially on courses that really need personal supervision and hands-on learning and more importantly, on socialization. This may explain why education authorities have always pushed the return to face-to-face classes, she said.
Dr. Ong-Lim noted that global health authorities have already made recommendations on how to transition back to onsite classes. One huge paradigm shift, she said, is to promote “Stay at Home when Sick” policy.
“The mindset of going to work just because work is important, or going to school just to achieve perfect attendance, is not allowed anymore. This has to be ingrained in the minds of parents, students, even school administration. Setting up a system that allows people to feel that it is ok to say I won’t go in and to provide an alternative to learn even when under isolation at home. It should be part of the new setup for the new normal,” Dr. Ong-Lim said.
She emphasized that those with symptoms should take a Covid-19 test and isolate so it would be easier to know if they can already go onsite or remain at home.
Reducing Covid-19 risks in school
To enable a safe return to schools, Dr. Ong-Lim emphasized constant protection of one’s self and others through vaccination and the proper use and choice of appropriately sized face masks even when outdoors when physical distancing is not possible, stay at home when not feeling well, proper hygiene by regular washing of hands, maintain good ventilation and physical distancing.
However, she said that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recognize that there are certain settings where physical distancing can be difficult to achieve, especially in schools with a large student population or small physical space. The two institutions advised schools to adjust their physical distancing requirements depending on the transmission situation in the community.
Added precautions may include regular cleaning and disinfection of school facilities including the school bus, staggered lunch breaks, or minimize recess for kids with shorter class schedules, limit mixing of class schedules. “This is another paradigm shift that school administrators may think about as face-to-face classes start,” she said.
As for vaccination, Dr. Ong-Lim said kids five years old and above should already have completed their primary series (first two doses) while those above 12 years old should already have their first booster. She likewise expressed the hope that this is something that parents, guardians, teaching staff will keep in mind, to continue to encourage their kids to be vaccinated.
“Most probably one of the greatest worries of parents is the consistency of their child’s behavior if they are not watched over in school. If this is their problem, the fact that the child is already vaccinated takes away behavior-based interventions and ensures that the child already has that protection regardless of how they will act,” she explained.
Dr. Ong-Lim also pointed to the recommendation of the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) of vaccination for children five to 11 years old not only to fight the disease itself but also its complications, including Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and also “long Covid” in pediatrics. Vaccination is good not just for individual protection but also contributes to “herd immunity.” It could also improve quality of life in households like less worry and stress among parents about their children when going to school knowing they are protected. Through vaccination, it will allow the reopening of schools and proceed with more confidence and lesser disruption.
“I hope these pointers can help achieve the goal, that even if a student or staff at school gets sick, we cannot be tagged as close contact, and the quarantining or isolation don’t need to happen.”