The government must prepare better this time round for the reopening of schools.
Teachers and learners will need to be protected from the virus and the government has to commit and provide masks for this purpose.
In the current context, the masks and PPE are more important than the textbooks, and the capitation. The government should ensure provision of adequate and quality masks.
Failure to this fundamental, we will be opening schools for mass deaths.
In the few weeks since the first reopening for candidates and Grade 4 students, teachers have reported a gap in the prevention of the virus occasioned by lack of proper discipline.
Learners are unprepared. They don’t know how to wear masks properly, they don’t know the importance of proper hand hygiene, or other prevention protocols.
It is thus important that the government trains teachers properly before the schools reopen. The next frontier of the fight against Covid-19 will be won through education.
The training should be of help to teachers and learners to understand the disease, the protocols, and how to handle the pandemic.
This type of training is important because what teachers will be doing will be health management of the virus.
In the recovery of time lost, the union strongly believes the government should not prescribe to teachers how they will recover time lost. Each school should be allowed to have its own unique solution to recover time lost.
The normal school operation hours should be maintained but there will be need for some bit of democracy to allow teachers to recover lost time.
In this case, there are teachers who would prefer to use the period between lunch breaks, others would want to do weekend classes, while others may opt for going for the time available before and after official class hours. They all should get that freedom.
Knut, however, finds it unrealistic the proposal by the TSC to have teachers dealing with paperwork to work from home, while their counterparts concentrate on teaching and learning.
It is not logical to tell teachers to prepare lesson plans and schemes of service from home that will be used by other teachers.
If these teachers cannot be in school, let them be away. The union's stand is that the government should provide a Covid-free school environment so that learners and teachers with underlying medical conditions are accommodated.
Wilson Sossion is Knut secretary general and nominated MP
