{"id":26575,"date":"2021-02-26T17:25:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T09:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=26575"},"modified":"2021-03-05T23:55:02","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T15:55:02","slug":"covid-19-and-education-close-the-schools-or-keep-them-open-the-worst-of-all-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2021\/02\/26\/26575\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid 19: Close the schools or keep them open \u2013 the worst of all worlds!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plugging the holes is not enough, it\u2019s time for a revolution in education<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sonja Grusch, Sozialistische LinksPartei \u2014 ISA Austria<\/p>\n

The question of whether to \u201ckeep schools open\u201d or \u201cto close schools\u201d is a heated and polarized debate. Governments have done little, or nothing for months to prepare for the second, and later third wave. Now, in a number of countries, a second, or even third lockdown has been called. Yet viable \u2018solutions\u2019 for dealing with the situation in the schools are non-existent. The half-hearted proposals that are made neither deal effectively with the virus, nor meet the requirements of the children, the parents or the teachers. Once again, responsibility for a social problem is shifted onto individuals<\/p>\n

Putting the economy first<\/b><\/p>\n

Even in Lockdown situations, where schools and childcare centres are supposed to be closed, parents are not being given the right to special childcare leave. This is so even in those advanced capitalist countries with still relatively strong elements of a welfare state and\/or strong trade unions such as in Austria or Germany, let alone in the rest of the world!<\/p>\n

In practice, governments are relying on the good will of the companies. Employees will probably have to wait in vain for them to grant leave. After all, there is already a large herd of \u201cblack sheep\u201d companies, who have failed to provide adequate safety precautions. Company interests are always more burning than those of the staff, and this is more true the easier staff can be replaced, and the more difficult the economic situation becomes.<\/p>\n

So, in many countries, employees are desperate as they need to go to work and don\u2019t know what to do with the kids. This is especially so for single parents, most of whom are women. Many are working in frontline jobs like health, retail or education themselves. As one father from Belgium comments: \u201cYou could take parental leave between May 1st and September 20th and get a small payment, 122 euro per month for a half time leave, which is a shit sum of money and even this was not a right, you needed to get formal agreement from your employer\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the same time, people working in schools \u2014 that is teachers, administrative staff, social workers, cleaning staff and others \u2014 are also concerned for their own health and those of their families. They often also need childcare for their own children to be able to work. Older teachers are not allowed to see their grandchildren, but have to work with groups of children. These total government failures mean that one group of employees is played off against another! Parents report that they are under pressure from school not to send their children, which they cannot succumb to for job reasons. Kindergarten staff and teachers report pressure from parents to keep their schools working as normal.<\/p>\n

Divide and rule<\/b><\/p>\n

But these interests are not really contradictory, but are because different parts of the working class are forced to work and live under the same parameters. It is the interests of the capitalist economy that are put first. It wants to have \u201cits\u201d workforce at its disposal, without having to take on the onerous care obligations. The different approaches to deal with this issue by various regional and national governments are no more than the reflection of the pressure of the different factions of capitalism and their interests. Ultimately, this is a classic \u201cdivide and rule\u201d scenario that serves only one purpose: to have the labor force available to the extent necessary for companies to continue working. Irrespective of what they say, they are not concerned about the kids or their education, but they need the schools primarily for childcare. If the rulers use the \u201cbest interests of the child\u201d as an argument, then this is \u2014 to put it bluntly \u2014 a lie. They have not shown such concern before.<\/p>\n

While the phase of the pandemic and the politics of governments are different in different countries, our approach is universal: the question is not whether schools should be open or not. The issue is what conditions should be in place so that schools can be safe and open in the future. Key to this is that all schools that are safe and accessible to all, free of charge, in which sufficient and well-paid staff are employed, and where learning, playing and relaxation can take place in interlocking all-day classes. Schools should place the needs of students, teachers and society at the centre, not those of business interests and austerity.<\/p>\n

Why school closures became necessary<\/b><\/p>\n

In the debate, a wide variety of studies on children, adolescents and the risk of infection, contagion and disease are being quoted. In itself, this demonstrates that science is not objective, but is used or conducted to further particular interests. But the truth is that infections occur when many people come together for long periods in closed rooms. This includes many workplaces, public transport and of course also schools and kindergartens.<\/p>\n

It has now been proven that the risk of infection among children barely differs from that among adults (although the mortality rate in the event of an outbreak of Covid-19 does differ). But schools are not only made up of children, but for the most part of adolescents and adults including many teachers, cleaning and secretarial staff, and those working in canteens and large kitchens, many of whom are over 50 years old, i.e. in a risk group. There are the employees of the transport companies who bring them from A to B twice a day. And they all have families. So even if children themselves do not fall seriously ill, school and the way to school are unsafe places.<\/p>\n

No preparation leads to chaos<\/b><\/p>\n

On the schools issue, politicians have rightly lost a lot of trust. Over the summer vacations, hardly anything was done to prepare, yet when the schools were due to restart, they declared everything was well organized, although the experiences of all those involved in the schools showed the opposite. There are countless examples of the complete failure to prepare for the second wave.<\/p>\n

In most cases, no or insufficient numbers of masks are provided for the staff. In Vienna, Austria, despite the propaganda there are several cases where 2 FFP2 masks were given to teachers, who were told they were to be reused for several weeks.<\/p>\n

The various digital learning platforms are constantly breaking down because no additional staff were hired during the summer months to respond to the massive increase in usage, despite explicit requests from the people working on them. In countries where there were school closures in the spring, it became clear that pupils from a poorer background might not have the necessary technical equipment. Sometimes laptops were purchased, or donated and handed out. But they are often defective or not internet capable.<\/p>\n

While in the spring, the situation was new to everybody, including the government and it was widely accepted that mistakes and shortages could happen, since then months have passed. The necessary steps should have been started then, but nothing has been done. The real experts are those on the ground \u2014 the teachers, students, cleaners and secretaries who all have very concrete suggestions including:<\/p>\n