It has been about a month since the Ministry of National Education announced that face-to-face education will be introduced. Face-to-face training will begin next Monday. So, are schools ready for education? More precisely, what measures have been taken against Covid-19 and the delta variant in schools?
In cooperation with the Ministry of National Education and Health, the instruction sent to the provincial directorates of national education with the title "Guide to the Precautions to be Taken in Schools in the Covid-19 Outbreak" has no rational side. The summary of the directive consists of "mask, social distance and ventilation of classes".
It has been explained at length that students use masks, change masks when they get wet, make an exception for students who cannot use masks, use face shields for children who prove that they cannot wear masks with a doctor's report, and have spare masks in the school.
A part of the instruction is reserved for the ventilation of the classrooms and it is stated that "the windows in the common closed areas of the school will be kept open all the time or ventilated as much as possible". In these days when summer ends and autumn begins, it is possible to talk about the ventilation of the classrooms, but it is certain that the ventilation of the classrooms during the winter months will no longer be a precaution. Moreover, it should not be difficult to predict that students sitting in front of the window will suffer from colds even in the autumn months.
One of the irrational rules is the distance rules. This subject is given a lot of attention in the regulations, but it is obvious that especially primary and secondary school students will not obey the distance rules, they will talk out of breath, joke and even scuffle.
It is unwise to write as a precaution that the routine cleaning of the schools will become more frequent and the lesson times will be planned not to exceed 40 minutes. Because the lessons were held for 40 minutes since the beginning. The Ministry of National Education must have made a great effort to plan lessons not to exceed 40 minutes. The other day, a channel close to the government was talking about this ingenious plan with contempt.
Encouraging students' families, teachers, canteens and bus drivers to vaccinate, and asking non-vaccinated teachers and school staff to have PCR tests twice a week have been discussed in public for days; There is a lot of backlash about it.
Obviously, private school owners, service workers, canteens and families who are fed up with their children want schools to be opened as soon as possible. Even though the government and the opposition seem to have allied with the start of face-to-face education, the opening of schools by fait accompli will cause great difficulties in the future.
Under these conditions, face-to-face education practice five days a week does nothing but endanger the health of children. If face-to-face education is so insistent, the hybrid education model, that is, distance education and face-to-face education should continue together. If it continues two days a week face-to-face and three days remotely, the risks will be reduced by half.
In the proposals announced by the Ministry of National Education, there is not the slightest information about the reduction of crowded classes and the seating arrangement of students. How many students will share an actual desk? If two or three students will sit in a row like before the epidemic, social distance cannot be mentioned. Unless the classroom environments are made desired, the problem cannot be solved with masks and classroom ventilation.
On the one hand, the countries that adopt the hybrid education model and create classes for ten, on the other hand, our country that wants to open schools in a hurry.
If face-to-face education is insisted on; at least the right to receive distance education should not be denied; face-to-face education should be left to the discretion of families and students. For students who do not want to receive face-to-face education, necessary support should be provided for distance education, especially Eba TV. In addition, those who do not go to school and want to continue distance education should be given the opportunity to take exams, thus preventing them from losing their class.
People who are addicted to face-to-face education will object to our view that “distance education should continue for another period”, and will talk about the importance of education, that children lose time with distance education, and that they cannot receive the necessary education. The same people do not talk about the poor quality of the rote-based education system in Turkey, that people do not get paid for their education, that they are treated according to their man and not according to education, that positions and positions are distributed according to nepotism rather than competence and merit.
In short, distance education or hybrid education should continue for at least one more semester. The health risks of face-to-face education are obvious. None of the measures claimed to be taken will be sufficient to eliminate these risks.