As a country, are we ready to return to face-to-face classes, even if it is under the hybrid model? According to the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, yes we are and not only that, but “come rain, thunder or lightning”, there will be a physical return to schools at the end of this month of August.
The president is right about something: literally everyone wants children, adolescents and young people to return to face-to-face classes as soon as possible, because taking online classes will never be the same as having the teacher in front of you and your partner next to you, but this represents a huge set of challenges for the education sector, of which not much has been done so far.
After so long in confinement and with distance classes, the academic results are not optimal, because the same authority has recognized that the “Learn at Home” program has not worked as expected. To this we cannot fail to underline all the students who dropped out of school and who will hardly return. According to the portal Statista, it is estimated that more than 2.83 million students dropped out of school between the months of April and August 2020 alone.
Another fact: to say about the “Survey to Measure the Impact of Covid-19 on Education”, Carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), around 1.5 million children and adolescents between the ages of three and 18 did not re-enroll in the 2020-2021 school year due to causes related to the pandemic.
The smallest, the most affected
That’s how serious it is. Students of all grades have been greatly affected by the pandemic, but especially the youngest, those in Kindergarten, because they do not have the opportunity to play and learn with their peers, just like those who start Primary , particularly for the acquisition of elementary skills, such as reading and writing.
Older students have had to get used to meeting their teachers and peers only from a distance, via a screen, perhaps a computer, but many students have had to connect to their classes on tablets and cell phones.
The United Nations (UN) recently warned that this generation of schoolchildren has lost, in simple and frank terms, at least one school year, which is already very serious, but it is even more so when we learn that many students dropped out of school not only because of the pandemic, but for good, especially for financial reasons.
Similarly, UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) stressed that the return to face-to-face classes will help mitigate the effects caused to an entire generation by the pandemic.
“Nothing will prevent the return to face-to-face classes”: AMLO
In fact, in the second week of July 2021, López Obrador emphatically assured that the return to face-to-face classes at the end of August is more than necessary: “There is nothing that prevents the return to face-to-face classes in August 2021, despite to a ‘small outbreak’ of Covid-19, in Mexico “.
However, there is no small regrowth. On the contrary, this third spike in Covid-19 infections, or third wave as others say, is at its best, since hospital occupancy throughout the country due to this disease has grown by around 30 percentage points in just one month. In addition, the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is super contagious compared to the original virus.
The above is the main objection to resuming classes throughout the educational system for the 2021-2022 school year, in addition to the fact that the anti-Covid vaccination, which, although it has advanced, is still not so significant as to generate the so-called “herd immunity” .
In this regard, Marco Fernández, research professor at the Tec de Monterrey School of Government, expressed about this return to classes: “Minimizing things – by the government – will not lead to gravity not happening, unfortunately reality always ends up imposing.”
Continuity of education and recovery of learning
Therefore, the return to face-to-face classes, after a year and a half of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is essential, especially due to all the academic effects, but also because of the social skills that this generation is failing to learn. However, the return to presence in schools is a key step for the continuity of education and the recovery of learning that will help mitigate various problems.
There is evidence around the world that prolonged school closings can negatively affect an entire generation over time. The effects range from loss of knowledge and skills, to the definitive suspension of studies, which necessarily results in an economic and social impact.
UNICEF emphasizes that it is important that the beginning of classes have better bases, be consistent, without hesitation and with all the conditions imposed by the new normal for coexistence, from the essential health prevention measures to the academic and social conditions necessary for reverse the significant lag in learning and thus begin a new era characterized by quality education.
In sum, the success of returning to face-to-face classes throughout the country will depend, to a large extent, on the evolution of the pandemic, the advance of vaccination -particularly in the 12 to 17-year-old group- and the health measures announced and carried out. out the school authority, because to a large extent, everything will come from the trust and goodwill of all those involved in the school community: students, teachers, administrative educational personnel and parents. At the time.
The medicine cabinet
Many people in the country – especially personnel from the education sector – are still waiting for information on phase 3 of the Covid vaccine from the Chinese pharmaceutical company CanSino. With the imminent arrival of the start of the school year in a few weeks, teachers have to be certain that the biological that was applied to them has some use, especially because of coexistence with other teachers, administrators, and of course, the students.