COVID-19 has brought some level of disruption to the lives of most, if not all of us. We have all had to adjust and revisit how we deal with many of the things we took for granted. Attendance at funerals and weddings must now be managed to ensure that social distancing is possible. Birthdays now go uncelebrated or must be restricted to virtual events.
Livelihoods have been negatively impacted. Persons have been terminated or required to work reduced hours, and some businesses have been forced to close or to downscale. Most persons have a tale of woe to tell about COVID-19 and its impact on them.
My greatest sympathy at this time lies with the students and teachers who are not able to engage in the learning process, through face-to-face sessions. While it appears that sterling efforts have been made to promote virtual learning, one gets the sense that it is still accepted that it is not adequate for preschoolers and students at the primary and secondary levels.
The efforts being made by education officials to have students return to face-to-face sessions, is an indication that the authorities also hold the view that virtual learning is not adequate. The phased reopening of the schools represents the desire of education officials to have students exposed to the best learning environment at the earliest opportunity.
The decision to return to physical school spaces on a phased basis has not been without criticism. Critics have noted the weekly Covid-19 infection numbers, and have questioned whether having unvaccinated students return to physical classrooms, some of which are air-conditioned, is a wise decision. Our decision makers are caught between a rock and a hard place as many parents, having had a taste of the challenges teachers encounter on a daily basis, as they seek to educate their children, have been clamouring for physical school to resume.
Health officials continually remind us that the prevention of the local transmission of COVID-19 in Anguilla is the priority of the Ministry of Health. Some persons do not see the phased reopening of physical school spaces as being in keeping with this regular pronouncement of the Ministry of Health. Balancing the need to ensure our children receive the highest quality of education we are capable of delivering, with the need to ensure their health is preserved, is the purview of elected and appointed public officials. Decisions made by public officials should occur after the weighing of many factors – and often requires public officials to consider the competing interests and desires of many persons.
Our comfort level with the decisions of public officials depends on our level of trust in their capacity to effectively research, analyse and respond to situations. Do we trust that with knowledge of the COVID-19 infection rate, public officials have formulated a plan for the safe reopening of school that will ensure an optimum learning environment for our children, while maintaining the prevention of the local transmission of COVID-19 as a priority? We must all hope and pray that the persons elected and appointed to hold public office in Anguilla have shouldered their responsibility, and that the delivery of that responsibility will be reflected in protocols which will facilitate the safe return of students to the physical school spaces.
In resolving a dilemma there will always be critics. The most appropriate way to answer critics is to demonstrate that decisions made are based on sound research and reasoning. It is our hope that this is indeed the case in relation to the phased reopening of our schools, in the COVID19 environment, as it is not overstating it to say that there is a real possibility for lives to be adversely affected by this decision. Hopefully it is a possibility that will not be realised.
