Notwithstanding many “modern” politicians prime KPI of never directly answering important questions put to them, Education Minister Dan Tehan’s performance on The Project last night was a disgrace.
I fully accept that we should place great store in advice provided by our nation’s chief health officers. However, those authorities also have a reponsibility of providing us all with the clearest and least-fudged reality-based advice possible.
Singapore, it seems, can very well be held up as an exemplar for keeping schools open and functioning in a manner that lowers societal risk in these difficult times. A tick to them for that regardless of what other aspects of their society might worry some of us.
BUT if Singapore is going to used as a rationale for our schools being kept open we must have systems in place that at least make a reasonable attempt towards matching procedures in Singaporean schools.
Where are the mandatory temperature checks on everyone entering into our schools? How is frequent handwashing being ensured? As for the almost impossible task of getting kids socially distanced, when I walked past our closest primary school a couple of days ago they seemed to practicising mass crowding of the teacher. And how well are our teachers being informed? I see lots of them expressing great concern that they are being very poorly informed 😦
Much of the “official advice” being given seems littered with disconnects and things left unstated – which is, unfortunately, a logical consequence of a culture too-long dedicated to not giving straight answers to important questions.
Yes, we are told over and over that children are at little risk of serious health consequences from covid 19. Which is good and a reassuring difference to how many oldies react of the risk to which global heating exposes young people. But what of the risk of young people – who are much more likely to show no or minor symptoms when infected – acting as vectors for infection of much more vulnerable older cohorts? Does bringing young people together in large numbers DECREASE the likelihood of them acting as agents for spread of the disease? Frankly I can’t think of any mechanism that would make than conclusion possible – quite the reverse. And where is the concern of the risk to their (older) teachers and other school staff? How do their levels of protective equipment and practices compare with those avialable to health workers?
Of course, it is understood as a first-order response that children being at school means that any of their home parents/carers who are health care workers are able to do their job while kids are out of the housel. But how long will this method hold up? How long will it be before untested daytime congregated children begin infecting health care workers?
Looking at the rapidly-changing response from governments it’s easy enough to understand the desire and necessity to buy time and flatten the curve. But there are great uncertainites and risks in all this and I fear that our soon-to-close schools and their teachers are being treated with great disrespect, including being treated yet again as a political football from a Minister who – last night at least – showed no sign of standing up for their interests 😦
The interests of our kids and their educators always was, always should be close to our highest public good.
aviewfromhoppers 