Get value out of extended school closure

The announcement that schools — which were closed in mid-March over Covid-19 fears — will reopen in January comes amid an increasing number of new coronavirus infections daily. The closure affects 1.6 billion learners globally, says Unesco.

Countries have taken a calculated approach. Britain, for instance, sent students back to the classroom early last month for the first time since March 18 after adhering with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef guidelines.

Outside England, the semi-autonomous governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have chosen to wait until next month, or later.

In Brazil, which has the second-largest number of confirmed cases, President Jair Bolsonaro has publicly rejected calls to reopen schools. Some countries have reported new infections after reopening, forcing them to close the learning institutions again.

HUGE IMPACT ON LEARNERS

The extended holiday will have a huge impact on learners, especially those with special needs.

For instance, it will interrupt the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which had picked up well this year from Pre-Primary 1 to Grade Four.

Many teachers had undergone the relevant training while schools invested in ICT equipment and infrastructure.

But the interruption provides a perfect opportunity to enhance CBC, which is limited in terms of content.

Most private schools had gone digital with students and teachers interacting through online learning platforms.

It is, however, not clear whether the learners are covering the second term syllabus or revising first term work. Learning institutions will need to reflect and define how to ease their workload.

ADDED RESPONSIBILITIES

Parents now have added responsibilities, including ensuring that learners remain learners in 2021 by continuing being their educators. Besides, parental engagement should yield better social skills, behaviour and adaptation among children. The continued interactions should increase social capital, efficacy and a sense of personal competence.

The community will, equally, play a significant role in the development of learners. The absence of teachers, who coach, guide and instil discipline in the learners, will be felt.

The community must deepen and expand non-formal education through support and adoption of proactive and reactive approaches to education to keep the learners engaged.

TEACHERS’ ROLES

Teachers should not abdicate their roles, however, while the government should come up with a raft of measures to continue engaging them to ensure they keep the learners afloat, minimal as it may be. Airing programmes on radio or television should continue. Further, TSC should deploy teachers to schools closest to their residence to avoid distance travelling when schools reopen.

Schools should now rework the infrastructure to align to the global minimum standard and ensure adherence to safety protocols and roll out efficient human resource management.

Whether or not this will be a wasted year in the education calendar will depend on how the remaining few months are utilised, bearing in mind that 2023 will be a critical year with the current G4 transitioning into junior secondary school.

Ms Odhiambo is a PhD student of development studies at JKUAT. [email protected].