Confidence is key to get children back to school where they belong

The consensus is that face-to-face schooling is the best way to educate children, both for their academic and social development.

Teachers can attest to the difficulties of engaging students through a screen, especially very young children and those with higher learning needs.

Parents get a sinking feeling when they think about juggling working from home themselves while keeping their children on task.

Students will tell you of the loneliness they endured not being able to see their friends and how they missed out on sport, camps, excursions, carnivals and special days at school.

UNICEF Australia has been vocal on how children have suffered from school closures in the pandemic and the need to move forward with evidence-based responses to outbreaks.

Life has changed dramatically since the end of last term. Before Christmas, may people may not have known anyone in their circle of immediate family, friends or colleagues who had contracted COVID-19. In late January it's impossible not to know someone who has been infected.

Our thinking and usage of rapid antigen tests have come a long way from a nice-to-have measure to a valid diagnostic tool and key method of breaking chains of transmission in schools when they return.

READ MORE:

The ACT's back-to-school plan contains some aspects that are unpleasant and complicated.

How will a kindergarten child cope with having their nostril swabbed twice per week? Who will step in to supervise classes when educators inevitably fall ill themselves or are caring for their own families?

The most important ingredient for a successful term is confidence. For some, including the public school teacher's union, the plan lacks detail so soon out from their return date.

The ACT government seems to be caught on the back foot in procuring enough rapid antigen tests to put a surveillance or test-to-stay regime in place. There's a promise to have RAT kits distributed by the end of week one for a voluntary scheme.

However, it's been shown that children are very unlikely to need hospital treatment if they do get the virus. Vaccination makes their chances of getting through the illness even better.

We have the tools to minimise the chances of transmission - good hand hygiene, masks, vaccination, ventilation - but even so there will be outbreaks in schools.

The best thing we can do is listen to the health professionals and push through to keep schools open for the benefit of our most precious members of society.

Our coverage of the health and safety aspects of this outbreak of COVID-19 in the ACT is free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support. You can also sign up for our newsletters for regular updates.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: