A local psychologist is concerned that the increasing level of anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders arising from not having face-to-face learning could get worse if students are not back in the classroom soon.
This comes as officials continue to warn of the growing negative impact that online learning at the primary and secondary school levels will have on social and economic development in the future.
Wendy Cave, a psychologist of over 12 years, told Barbados TODAY she was already seeing an increase in the number of children struggling with anxiety and other disorders as a result of not being able to attend school.
“I am seeing a lot in the therapy room through the parents’ eyes, of children struggling with anxiety – no longer wanting to leave the room. Once they finish school they don’t want to leave and mingle with friends again,” she reported.
“I am seeing a lot of financial repression with parents who have had to leave the workforce and the whole family broken because they have had to stay home, or children have been put into unsafe positions because there is nobody to leave the kids with to do safe online learning and both parents have had to return to work,” she explained.
“I think the important thing to realise is that the impacts are already here, with anxiety probably being the largest – social anxiety disorders, depression, financial strain and the breakdown of the family unit. Those are the things we are already seeing,” she added.
Cave said some parents were also not bothering to give their children the necessary attention due to stresses of their own.
She warned that the situation could get worse if allowed to go on, adding that with other areas of the economy and society open including party spots, parents and students were puzzled why schools were still closed.
She pointed out that over the course of the last two years there have been thousands of students who were unable to access Wi-Fi or tablets, or were sharing tablets and have not been able to be properly educated.
She said her biggest fear now was that students at the CXC and CAPE levels would not have the kind of future or opportunities they could have had if conditions were different.
Cave suggested that if teachers were concerned about the size of the classes they could use tents and move some classrooms outside with appropriate staff to facilitate.
Pointing out that systems were put in place to accommodate the January 19 general election, Cave added that the same way measures were put in place to host the recent T20 cricket match, systems could be put in place to allow for children to go back to the classroom.
“There is space if you want to make the space. If you can bring in 150,000 garbage cans you can bring in 100,000 tents and let the kids go to school outside,” she said, while proposing that “the next revolt should be to start schools in the restaurants”.
“We go out and eat all the time and we have been doing it safely. We wear our masks and we do small pods. Maybe we should do schools in the restaurants to make a point,” said Cave, who was part of a protest on Saturday designed to put pressure on government to send children and teachers back to the classrooms.
She believes teachers and their unions were giving some pushback because some of them were not vaccinated and even more concerning was that the teachers seemed to like the idea of being “paid to stay home”.
Meanwhile, five-year-old Gracie Cave told Barbados TODAY that while she found the online learning to be “good”, she really wanted to return to in-person learning.
“I want to go back to school because I miss my friends and I want to learn again at school. I really want to go back to school. I want to go back on February 21,” she said.
Gracie is in her third year of online learning. While her second school term started in-person, that was short lived.
Several regional and international officials have warned that the continued absence of face-to-face learning will lead to decades of economic consequences for developing states.
In Barbados, it is estimated that over 57,000 students have been out of the classroom setting since 2020, while thousands of children have never been in a school setting since starting their formal education.
Respected regional economist Marla Dukharan also warned of the impact the continued closure of schools could have on the students’ development and the economy.
“The Caribbean and Latin America trails the rest of the world in terms of the education and learning gap that we have suffered during this pandemic. This is going to have severe long-term consequences on the economy, not just for Barbados but the whole region. We need to try to correct that as soon as possible and reopen and put kids back in school, and have a learning plan to get them caught up.
“We have kids who are going to be writing the 11-plus exams, O’ level exams and A’ level exams in a matter of months and many of these children that I know of personally don’t quite feel they are ready. This is a serious thing. It is going to have consequences for a long time and that is the last thing developing countries need,” she said.
Over the course of last year, officials have p
ostponed several dates set for the return of face-to-face learning. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
