#BTEditorial – Children must return to classrooms with haste

One can only wonder what is expected to be the long-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on our school children. They have become the silent victims of the disease that has stymied their education and development over the past two years.

The matter of children’s education during the pandemic is a complex one. While the world raced to produce an effective and safe vaccine to fight the disease, it was adults who were the main focus as children were believed to be less impacted by COVID-19 if they became infected.

Barbados and other countries in the Caribbean endured a battle to procure the life-preserving drugs as our counterparts in the developed world hoard billions of doses, several times more than their population numbers required.

Even today, countries like our often-deprived Caribbean Community (CARICOM) neighbour Haiti, has only managed to inoculate a minute percentage of its population. A similar picture has emerged in some poor nations of Africa.

The pandemic, however, has had multiple effects on our children. As the world’s pharmaceutical giants and political leaders sought to protect the adult populations from the worst effects of the disease, vaccines for those under the age of 18 were the last to be approved. Furthermore, for us in Barbados, Government is still trying  to secure vaccinations for children under 11 years old.

We understand that vaccines for children are even more expensive than that for adults, and with so many demands on the public’s purse to respond to the disease, the best protection at this stage is for adults who have children in their care, to follow the COVID protocols and get vaccinated.

This brings us to the recent  protest by parents of children who attend some of this country’s private schools. The fact that these children and their parents could be described as privileged, does not take anything away from the validity of their argument for classrooms to be reopened.

The fact is that in neighbourhoods across Barbados, children are being left to their own devices as parents and guardians seek to maintain their jobs in a very difficult economic and social environment.

Trinidadian-born regional economist, Marla Dukharan, is one of the outspoken members of the protesting group. In her call for schools to be reopened as quickly as possible, she also sent a letter to Prime Minister Mia Mottley outlining the parents’ grievances. She rightly drew attention to the fact that many parents have been let go from their  jobs or quit in order to help children with the online classes.

Children have been greatly disadvantaged by the disruptions and school closures which were introduced as part of the country’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

We understand that the options which Government faces are complex. Seeking the greater good for the greatest number of people was the goal. The problem that the administration must confront now is the mixed messages that it has sent.

The recent hosting of international cricket at Kensington Oval, though only as half capacity, still raised reasonable questions for parents who demand to know why a solution can be found for the foreign exchange earning sporting event, and why has it taken so long to find a solution for the education of our children.

It was a statement of great import from Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George when he urged Barbadians to learn to live with COVID.

And a similar message is coming from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), whose director Dr Carissa Etienne  has urged countries in the region to take whatever steps are necessary to facilitate the return of our children to school.

As Dr Etienne warned us, each day that children go without in-person learning, “the greater the likelihood that they [may] drop out and never return to the classroom, leading to lifelong consequences”.

Furthermore, she noted, “For some children, schools are safe havens to learn, socialise, receive mental health support, and get a nutritious meal.”

The return of our children to the classroom is no longer a simple matter of education. There are teenagers whose education was disrupted over the last two years and because of their age, a return to the classroom is not an option even if the doors were reopened tomorrow.

We fear that  as authorities spend more time seeking to create the perfect scenario for children to return to the classes, a generation of youngsters may be lost  and the long-term social and personal consequences for these children will be too great.