We are now nearly at the end of August 2020. We talked with a cross section of parents and every one seems to have some anxiety about the kids and children as the new September 2020 school year is knocking at the door. We see the school boards in Ottawa and Toronto are debating various options, on line, physical school or hybrid options. The Ontario education ministry is also suggesting various alternatives.
According to some parents only 1/4 of students are selecting on online education and based on their experiences of the last few months they are worried about the quality of online education. Although as per data, 3/4 children have opted for hybrid or physical school education. They are also worried, as the children may bring home some form of virus..
According to a CBC.ca news of August 21, 2020, 41 schools in Berlin report the impact of the corona virus. Based on the August 10, 2020, www.mirror.co.uk, reported in the last 2 weeks of July, in the USA, 97,000 school children tested positive for coronavirus before the start of the school year..
Another educationist from GTA reported, one school in GTA within 2 days of opening, got one case of positive coronavirus and the whole school of 250 students and 8 teachers were all quarantined for 2 weeks.
Some other Ottawa educationists are hesitant to advise parents what to do with their school children, They think it is certainly not an easy decision to take. Each one , online schooling or physical schooling each has some advantage and some challenges. Online schooling may be a bit less risky but online schooling is not the same as physical schooling. As in physical schooling, teachers will engage the children, with help being handy and some children perform better in actual schools under the supervision of teachers, Based on their own situation, a family can select online or physical schooling.
One thing is clear as Ontario ( Ottawa and Toronto) now for about two/three months, are in stage 3 of business including places of worship/Masjids. Alhamdu Lillah, in Ontario (Ottawa and Tornto), there have been some reports of some increased Coronavirus in few businesses or places of worship, but still it seems businesses and places of worship are functioning ok under new normal.
Whatever individual parents decide, it is certain, majority of parents, for various reasons, will decide to send their children to physical schooling and the minority will select an online option.
First three months, March to May 2020 , most of the people, parents, children, we all were confined to home. From June to August 2020, most of us are out in parks, shopping malls and in the playground, we are increasingly adapted to new normal. We see parks are full, businesses are functioning normally under new normal. Same way, with some ups and downs, we visualize the schools will also run under new normal
We pray and hope for our children, parents and community to remain safe and secure as well as students can safely continue the school year from September 2020.