Why Should Schools Reopen?

Why Should Schools Reopen?

Today the world is going through the difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to fears of mass fatalities and inability to provide all the infected people with hospital beds, governments have closed  public places, and schools are among them. Teachers and students are now trying to handle the educational process online. Seemingly, the safety precautions have not interrupted education, still, there are problems with the newly established system. The schools have to be reopened so as not to harm students mentally.  

First of all, it must be emphasized that students of schools, not universities, are taken into account in the essay. They are children who remain greatly dependent on the environment they are in, that is why Lee Hudson in his article (https://bit.ly/3cGtVY6) (Accessed: 17.05.2020) raises the issue of the children's impossibility of going to schools in order to escape the pressure and violence in their families during lockdown. Dr. Hudson is horrified with the figures: "... one child under 15 is killed every week - most commonly by a parent..." Moreover, the author points out the important role of schools in helping children to cope with their mental problems. And now the students are deprived of this support. 

The second problem is not mentioned in the article but is related to mental state of all the students during quarantine, so I find it necessary to shed the light on the issue. That is the enormous workload resulting from the shift to distance learning. The students get more tasks than ever before and have no spare time at all. In the article "What students are saying about remote learning" (https://nyti.ms/3dRwzdH) (Accessed: 17.05.2020) there are similar thoughts: "Tons of homework overwhelms us everyday." 

These two problems need to be solved, which is, unfortunately, an impossible task today. The students cannot come back to schools right now due to the danger of contracting the coronavirus. Though Lee Hudson states that children's deaths with COVID-19 are very rare, the youngsters spread it just as adults, and this means that the teachers would be at risk.

Apparently, all people can do is to wait for the pandemic to end and to believe that everything will be alright. Everyone should not forget about the importance of taking care of both physical and mental health, which is the main point in our fast-changing and sometimes dangerous world.