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Returning to school is a major health challenge for Puerto Rico

11 de agosto de 2020 - 11:55 AM

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Esta historia fue publicada hace más de 4 años.

One of the most important short-term challenges for the government of Puerto Rico is the return to school of just nearly 300,000 children in the next few days right amid the enormous threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a major challenge that calls the government to fulfill the inescapable duty to act with the utmost rigor and responsibility, as consequences of reckless actions can be catastrophic.

Health Secretary Lorenzo González anticipated that he does not see the return of students to school, scheduled for September 17, possible since positivity rates on the island remain above 5 percent. The government reported yesterday 353 new confirmed cases - totaling 9,319 - and 352 new probable cases -totaling 13,502- while deaths reached 279. These numbers indicate the spread has not been contained.

On one hand, an improper return to in-person classes can lead to exponential increases in infections among children. On the other hand, remote learning is still a huge obstacle for a large number of poor students who do not have access to the technology necessary for such dynamics.

Between these two inescapable realities, our education system seems to be walking on a tightrope. We call the Department of Education (DE) to address this really complicated scenario as seriously as possible and to take the necessary measures, even the most creative or daring ones, to ensure both health and education for those who need it most.

Last semester, having to suddenly close schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the DE simply failed in its attempt to continue teaching online. It was faced with the painful reality that many of its students, with 78 percent of them living under the poverty level, had neither the equipment nor the access to the internet for remote classes. Virtually no teachers had equipment provided by the agency either.

An investigation by El Nuevo Día revealed that at least 22,000 public school students did not take a single day of class last semester, first because of the earthquake in January and then because of the pandemic. Thousands of others took a few weeks or even days. None are known to have had what can truly be called online education: real-time interaction, via an Internet connection, with their teacher.

The Department of Education cannot afford to have this scenario again.

The agency plans to begin virtual classes on August 17. But despite a $261 million investment in equipment, training, and licensing, most students will not have their equipment, nor will they be trained in the use of the platforms chosen to teach this month.

Information recently provided by the Health Secretary indicates that the chances to a safe return to face-to-face classes, even in the hybrid mode the Department of Education suggested, seem very limited.

In short, authorities are between a rock and a hard place, unable, on one hand, to provide online education to the 274,000 students expected this school year, and, on the other hand, with the uncertainty of the development of the COVID-19 pandemic making it difficult to know when it would be safe to return to in-person classes.

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