{"id":118393,"date":"2021-07-13T20:32:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T15:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=118393"},"modified":"2021-07-13T20:32:39","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T15:02:39","slug":"prioritising-school-reopening-on-the-road-to-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/prioritising-school-reopening-on-the-road-to-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Prioritising school reopening on the road to recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The<a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=G7A8OSLHV.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0Hindu\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>: This article justifies reopening the schools.<\/p>\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Children have long borne the costs of school closure, and evidence-based decisions toward reopening are a necessity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most schools in India have been closed since the national lockdown started in March 2020.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, many experts are now demanding a reopening as the adverse impacts of closure are severely outweighing the risk of reopening. Further, the second wave of Covid-19 has begun to fall, across the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Adverse impacts of school closure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>First<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the bottom half of children passing Class 10 are about two years behind in terms of skills. Prolonged school closure has widened this gap, thereby pushing the <\/span><b>next generation deeper into poverty.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Second<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the<\/span><b> dropout rate in the country would be enhanced<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A survey across 10 States in India in November 2020 estimated that nearly two-thirds of children in rural India may drop out of school. This figure would worsen this persistent closure.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Third<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, prolonged school shutdown has severely<\/span><b> pushed back India\u2019s fight against ills <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">such as <\/span><b>child labour and child marriage.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fourth<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it has restrained the effective implementation of crucial schemes like the mid-day meal. In June 2020, it was estimated that about 800,000 additional children would face <\/span><b>underweight and wasting<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Fifth<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, extended school closure has a severe impact on<\/span><b> children\u2019s mental health<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In Las Vegas, the U.S., a surge of student suicides forced schools to reopen in January 2021. The United Kingdom reported a 40% rise in the number of children taking antidepressants.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>What is the risk of school reopening<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">?<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The risk of COVID-19 for children is<\/span><b> much lower than for adults<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><b>Based on a study of 137 million school-age children in the U.S. and Europe<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it was observed that COVID-19 is less than half as risky as seasonal influenza in children.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, a study among the nearly two million children in Sweden (where schools have been open throughout), found that there was not a single child death due to COVID-19.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per Mumbai\u2019s dashboard data, the COVID-19 IFR (Infection Fatality Rate) for under-19 is minuscule: about 0.003%\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Various regions around the world which have been worse hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic than India, have kept their schools mostly open.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This includes various European countries such as Portugal, France, the Netherlands, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The State of Florida (United States) opened schools for in-person classes in late September 2020, and they stayed open through their second wave.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There has been a concern that a possible third wave involving newer variants could affect children. <\/span><b>But a careful look at the data tells that the age profiles of those affected in the second and first waves are similar.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> There is no scientific basis for this fear.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, there have been several careful scientific studies across various regions in Europe\/U.S., measuring the role of in-person classes in COVID-19 spread. The overwhelming conclusion is that t<\/span><b>he risk of COVID-19 spread in schools is minimal compared to other locations.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Way Ahead:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Policymakers must make<\/span><b> evidence-based decisions toward school reopening. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the least the working class and the children of India deserve.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To reduce the concern among <\/span><b>teachers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Government must treat them on a par with <\/span><b>essential workers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and offer them prioritized vaccination.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A differentiated approach of<\/span><b> partial reopening <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can also be analyzed for children having sufficient access to digital tools. However, for children who lack the resources, whose parents have to go out to work every day, in-person schooling is paramount.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, the<\/span><b> vaccination drive for children must be based on a careful risk-benefit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> analysis.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is pertinent to note that there are growing concerns in the U.S. of a potential link between heart inflammation and the mRNA vaccine, among adolescents.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The\u00a0Hindu\u00a0 Relevance: This article justifies reopening the schools. Synopsis: Children have long borne the costs of school closure, and evidence-based decisions toward reopening are a necessity. Background: Most schools in India have been closed since the national lockdown started in March 2020. However, many experts are now demanding a reopening as the adverse impacts&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/prioritising-school-reopening-on-the-road-to-recovery\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Prioritising school reopening on the road to recovery<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704726667},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}