Education: Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic
As we set foot into the start of the second full school year of the COVID pandemic, it will be interesting to see what adjustments will be made by governments and school administrators as we enter the fourth wave of the pandemic. The last school year was challenging, at best, as students at the elementary and secondary levels struggled with the extended stay at home order and the various virtual learning platforms. Many education departments and school boards were ill prepared to deal with the fallout from last academic year and it leaves me to wonder if critical lessons were learnt.
The worsening crisis has exposed the many shortcomings and inequities in our educational systems. These include the broadband internet and computer devices needed for online learning through to the infrastructure changes required for staff and students to remain safe in the physical classrooms. More assurances are needed that the resources required for students and teachers to remain in the classroom safely throughout the year will be in place. Virtual learning should be a supplement and not a substitute for in school instruction. Staring at a screen for hours is not the ideal situation and should not be used over a prolonged period. Studies coming out of the Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto have shown that during of the pandemic to date students’ mental health were deeply affected as the number of cases of anxiety and eating disorder has risen sharply.
The last academic year thousands of students had their learning interrupted and lower income households and marginalized communities were disproportionately affected. This led to learning gaps among students especially in literacy and numeracy at the elementary levels and university and college preparations for those at the secondary system. Could this be the pandemic academic year when so many students fall so far behind that they may fall off the radar? How will policy makers and educators deal with the widening learning gaps in the upcoming months. Is it one of remediation to acceleration? The goal is to make up for what the students missed the first time around and run it parallel with the current instructional schedule. This approach will allow the students to meet the appropriate grade level requirement while keeping pace with current requirements. For success to be derived, this approach has to be intentional in using a combination of intensive learning strategy and accommodation. For this to succeed, adequate human and financial resources will be needed for execution.
Thousands of students fall through the cracks under normal circumstances across North America and the Caribbean. With this being exacerbated by the pandemic, now is the time to renew the right to education by rebuilding a more equitable and robust system. The applicable technology must be made available to both students and teachers. Student teacher ratio must be reduced to ensure that no child is left behind. Support for students’ mental health must be prioritized to reduce anxiety and other mental issues that are rising rapidly over the last year.
Unfortunately, how well our children learn far too often depends on where they or which community they are from. Lower income households and marginalized communities bear the brunt of this reality. As many students need to be back in the physical classroom for much of the upcoming school year as is possible. Virtual learning is not an equal-opportunity sport because some players are outfitted with all the gears while others are not. Virtual learning should not be the staple but a supplement. We need to learn from the shortcomings of the last academic year and if we don’t, we may have a lost generation of COVID learners.
Fernon Wilson is a Jamaican born educator working in Toronto, Canada.
