A return to face-to-face schooling with a high risk of Covid 19 contamination was an eventuality. Despite this, parents, educators and students expected that the measures announced by the Minister of Health would be put into practice in the name of the safety of all those exposed in the schools, but above all in the name of the success of the new school year. The fact remains that, on the third day of classes, the complaints are piling up, as are the number of cases of contamination.
A bad start!
As of Monday, 35 cases with visible symptoms have been reported among educators and students combined. A Ministry of Education official even confirms that “on Tuesday, although the exact count is unknown, the rate was higher than on the first Monday of the school year. The figure for Wednesday is unknown, but there were several cases. But it would be unfair to blame the systems and measures put in place in the schools because these are only the first days of the new school year. They were certainly contaminated before the start of the school year. The protocols are thus set in motion, as attested by all these schools and also by SEDEC. Parents were alerted to collect their children and classrooms were disinfected so that classes could resume the next day. There were isolated cases where children were held in their classrooms waiting for the arrival of their classrooms such as at the Emilienne Rochecouste Government School in Quatre-Bornes where more than twenty pupils were held after the teacher in Kreol Morisien was found positive.
The highlighted complaints
Even if the Ministry official’s observation is correct, these are not exactly the complaints of the majority. The complaints revolve around the contrary facts announced by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, especially around the fact that the testing areas and isolation rooms are not ready in all schools and the Testing Team has not yet been set up. The Ministry of Education official says “has been delayed due to Cyclone Batsirai”. Namely, this new mobile team was to be composed of 90 members. According to our interlocutor, “the testing teams will be operational from Thursday 10. There is an addition to the protocols for testing. Consent forms have been distributed to students to give to their parents who will have to sign them. This will authorise the testing teams to carry out their screening exercises in the schools”. Regarding testing of contact cases, mandatory testing is done on the first and third day.
Other complaints from parents and students include lack of understanding about social distancing in all places except transport. As far as transport is concerned, the organisation is to be deplored. In many places, bus fleets are small, and the wait in the morning and afternoon is at least an hour. Parents also reveal that during these three days, in several establishments of the island, the children remain without doing anything in their classrooms under the supervision of a substitute who is not necessarily a teacher. Thus, the resumption of school is considered to be too hasty and very badly organised.
Complaints are also recorded among educators. It is the lack of ‘supply teachers’ or replacement teachers who are not formed or eligible to continue the syllabus program of a teacher in isolation.
More and more questions
The fears raise questions about the safety of students and educators. And they fear a massive contamination of the student population in the coming weeks. With the absence of the infected students on the one hand and the absence of the teacher replaced by a substitute who cannot continue to teach the syllabus on the other, parents are wondering whether this new school year will be beneficial for both education and the health of students. But the ministry is betting everything on the vaccination of the two concerned parties and screening within the institutions.
To date, of the 32,303 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, more than 16,000 have received the first dose of Pfizer and more than 7,000 the second dose. For students over 18, of the 8815, 7740 have received at least one dose. Not all students have been vaccinated, but in the first instance they will have access to their schools. The Ministry is counting on the heads of the schools to motivate them to be vaccinated.
