Just like that, it’s back to face-to-face classes for around 28 million students in the country. After over 2 years of learning-at-home, it’s almost anti-climactic, actually. If reports are to be believed, the Philippines is probably the last – if not one of the last – to return to the classrooms. Anxiety about the resumption of real world schooling peaked as the school year opened.

Public opinion on the matter is really perplexing. I recall in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an uproar when quarantine restrictions resulted in the closure of schools. Many parents were concerned that their children would be deprived of social interaction that is an essential part of being in school – about making and keeping best friends. There was also the furor over connectivity and preparedness to take classes to the digital world. Plus, there was the contingent stress on parents having to take on the responsibilities of pseudo or shadow teachers, especially on some subjects that probably were not on their syllabus when they were in school themselves. Not to mention that parents had to split their work-from-home (WFH) time with the children’s school time.

Today, you take each one of the above concerns about the stop of face-to-face school and they become the mirror arguments about why some groups are clamoring forstudents to continue with virtual classes. Social interaction is now a risk for the spread of COVID. Teachers are reportedly not ready to take children back, lacking in teaching tools and lesson plans – as well as classrooms, in some cases. Some parents are anxious about giving up their personal supervision of their children’s learning.

I guess the opposing views then and now are a result of having to break out of comfort zones. Change management is probably much harder than change itself.

I am confounded, though, about the seeming outcry for continued virtual learning. Why? Because, at least, in my own movements throughout Metro Manila, I observed that parents do not seem to have much hesitation in taking their children to malls, restaurants, movie houses and other public places. More disconcerting is that there does not seem to be much of an overriding concern about kids running about with masks off or inappropriately worn. In addition, the take up of vaccines or boosters among minors is far, far, far from critical mass. If, truly, there is a concern about exposure to the COVID-19 virus, I would have expected more parents and their children lining-up at vaccine centers.

These contradicting behaviors make me really wonder about the best way forward for schooling. Looking at what’s happening in the rest of the world, it’s hard to understand where all the anxiety about back-to-school is coming from. There has been no significant rise in the numbers of infected minors in countries where face-to-face classes restarted. This, not considering that in those schools they are not even taking extraordinary health protocol measures. In the Philippines, some schools are implementing plastic separators among students and with the teachers, socially distanced seating and other safeguards.

Kids in other countries are not required to be vaccinated (of course, some governments still do not allow vaccinations among the younger children), as are teachers. Also, there are no provisions for triage or isolation on school grounds.

In my view, the return to schools is long delayed. Having said that, I think that the period given to adequately prepare for welcoming students back could have been longer. School administrators, teachers, service staff, school bus providers, public utility vehicle operators may have benefitted with an additional month or two to get all the necessary precautions – mandated or otherwise – in place. Public schools were especially challenged, in my mind.

But, I support the progressive re-opening of face-to-face classes. Starting with a hybrid phase in August and then shifting to full on-site learning in October is probably the most measured way of shepherding children – and parents – back to school. It allows for a gradual transition and a period of adjustment.

Full disclosure, I do not have children of my own. Therefore, I cannot claim to completely grasp the whole range of issues that parents may be confronted with. I will concede that given the continuing mutation and spread of the corona virus, parents must be second-guessing themselves about letting their children return to school.

Just as the adult world is learning to live with the virus, I think that children will – now or eventually – have to do so as well. For me, it is better to take the bull by the horns than kick the can down the road for even more than the two years that have already passed. There can be no substitute for the personal touch and human contact that face-to-face learning allows. It is an essential part of education.

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