Should schools be in-person or online during the academic year?

This is an important and straightforward question these days, not only for families and students and teachers in Iran, but also for all governments and major international organizations seeking an answer. The question may seem simple at first and can usually be answered in one or two sentences and a minute, but the reality is that it may be one of the most complex, costly, and significant questions that the education world has faced in the past hundred years, and has been confronted with all over the world.

What should be done with the crisis that COVID-19 has caused in education?

The crisis, which according to the World Bank is the most important educational crisis in the world in the last hundred years, or as the Prime Minister of Chile puts it, a major earthquake in education.

In late August of this year, the three main education organizations in the world, namely UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank, issued a joint statement requesting all governments to reopen schools in person as soon as possible and even go beyond that by stating that education systems do not need to wait for the completion of teacher vaccinations or comprehensive vaccine coverage to reopen.

What do the statistics say?(

2)

What has caused concern and turmoil for experts in international organizations responsible for education around the world, are the results obtained from the analysis of educational data during the coronavirus period; to the extent that, according to the responsible person of the World Bank’s education sector, the coronavirus crisis has destroyed all global progress in education and literacy over the past two decades, and educational statistics have become alarmingly negative, putting the achievements of the past two decades at risk (3).

From April 2020 to September 2021, approximately 870 million students in different countries around the world have been affected by disruptions; meaning that 180 million students have missed part or all of the previous academic year in school. According to the latest statistics from UNESCO, 27% of countries, including Iran, are still continuing school closures. The average duration of school closures in the world has been 76 days, while in the Middle East and East Asia it reaches around 200 days. One interesting aspect of these statistics is that around 140 million students in the first grade have not been able to attend school. What important issue do these statistics reveal?

Educational justice has been sacrificed for the closure of schools.

Online education and long-term closure of schools due to the global movement towards educational justice has disrupted the world of education and made it more unfair than before after the coronavirus. Access to primary and elementary education for low-income or poor families has become more difficult and efforts to bring back students who have dropped out of school have been halted. In the past academic year, about twenty percent of elementary school students worldwide did not have access to online education. In Iran, according to officials, about fifty percent of students have been left out of effective and meaningful educational coverage.

However, the expansion of educational injustice is not only limited to students who have been left behind in terms of online education coverage. The state of educational justice and access to quality education among students who have access to online education is concerning. According to the latest research from the World Bank, during the pandemic, the percentage of ten-year-old children who cannot read and understand a simple text has increased by about ten percent worldwide, from fifty-three percent to sixty-three percent.

Studies have shown a severe decline in the quality of education, especially in public education. According to research conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, students in the past academic year only learned twenty-seven percent of the material that was supposed to be taught. Another study in Chile found that among students in grades six to twelve, the learning rate for reading and writing was sixty percent and the learning rate for math topics taught was between twenty-seven and forty-seven percent.

Statistics on the evaluation of the previous academic year in Iran have not been published, but observations and field studies by teachers show that the situation of academic progress evaluation in Iran is also concerning.

What is the cost of schools remaining closed?

Statistics and indicators related to educational coverage or decline in the quality of education are not the only consequences of closing schools. Although many statistics are still not accurately determined or published, or scientific research has not reached the publication stage, scattered evidence and even numerous official reports have been published about problems and crises directly related to school closures and disruption of the education cycle.

The increase in mental and psychological problems among students has been so widespread that it has been expressed in a joint statement by three international organizations. Unofficial reports of an increase in the number of student suicides in Iran have been published; in addition, the increase in child labor and child marriage are among the consequences of students dropping out of the education system.

Increasing the digital divide between different income groups and as a result, increasing the gender gap in education has become a concern for international education experts these days; crises that may take years to resolve.

Is reopening schools contributing to the spread of coronavirus?

At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, predictions were that schools could be hotspots for the spread and proliferation of the virus. Based on these predictions and in order to prevent a crisis whose dimensions and consequences were not yet clear, school closures were among the first measures taken by many governments and countries. With the start of vaccination, UNESCO and UNICEF urged governments to prioritize teachers for receiving the vaccine, but according to a report from the Coronavirus Impact Monitoring Center, only half of the countries in the world considered this a priority for teachers. Although Iran joined this group of countries later, it had relatively good success in vaccinating teachers last summer.

After approximately twenty months, the results of research from reputable scientific and medical centers present a different image to educational policymakers, which differs significantly from the initial perception. According to scientific research from the Centers for Disease Control.‌

European school closures (4) do not pose a higher risk of disease transmission than homes and other community settings. Multiple other studies in Europe, America, and Germany have shown that initial assumptions about the impact of schools on virus spread – even in places where full vaccination has been carried out – were not accurate and real.

Solution: Open the schools!

The proposed solution by experts is clear and straightforward. Do not delay the reopening of schools! However, the World Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF have made this urgent request along with suggestions in two sections, which can be called responsible reopening of schools by governments and non-governmental stakeholders.

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In order to reduce and manage the risk of reopening schools, necessary measures must be taken. These include items outlined within UNICEF’s framework for school reopening.

• Observing social distancing in classroom lessons.

• Compulsory availability of masks for teachers and students.

• Having access to hand sanitizing materials in all rooms and buildings.

• Installation and setup of a suitable ventilation system in classrooms that lack proper air circulation.

• Conducting periodic COVID tests.

• The reopening of elementary schools has begun due to the decrease in virus spread among younger ages.

Solution: Solution: Make up for missed educational opportunities in this way!

In the statements of three important international institutions, these three issues have been emphasized as the main topics that should be addressed in post-corona education:

• Reviewing curriculum and educational programs to cover the needs of all students.

• Helping students to make up for academic deficiencies.

• Supporting teachers to use digital education.

Footnotes.

1- Saodra, Jimmy, the enormous and yet invisible cost of school closures.

Blog.

World Bank, August 26, 2021.

2- The statistics used in this note are taken from UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank data. For more information, please refer to:

Response of educational systems to COVID-19 (briefly).

Website.

UNICEF, September 10, 2021.

And.

Website.

Global Tracking and Recovery of Educational Systems in the Era of COVID-19.

3- Saodra, Jimmy, the enormous and yet invisible cost of school closures.

Blog.

World Bank, August 26, 2021.

4- COVID-19 and children and the role of school environments in virus transmission.

Center.

Control of Communicable Diseases in Europe