After nearly six months with schools closed, and with some improvement in COVID-19 indicators, some states and municipalities are beginning to announce their plans to resume in-person classes. Following the example of countries that resumed classes as early as the first half of 2020, all of these plans call for a phased return, starting with certain grade levels, while some students continue to learn from home. They also include reducing class sizes to allow for the necessary social distancing, with a rotation system in which some students will stay home a few days a week while others attend in-person classes. As a result, remote learning will continue for some time to come, even after the return to in-person classes.

But the question remains: when will this happen?

The lack of coordination between health and political authorities has been causing great anxiety among parents and teachers, and it certainly doesn’t help that municipal elections are coming up soon, with candidates seeking reelection fearful that any misjudgment about the right time to reopen—or any false news about the consequences of reopening—could harm their political campaigns.

In this context, we all lose out, but more than us, it is the young students themselves who, in a situation of profound educational inequality, see their chances of advancing through education go down the drain.

The solution to the problem is certainly not easy, as there are enormous risks regardless of the option chosen: continuing with remote learning or resuming in-person classes. Yes, the risks of transmission or even of the condition worsening in children are very low, according to research, but there are professionals involved who may gather in schools or on public transportation and thus become infected. On the other hand, keeping students out of school will result in significant losses not only in learning but also in socialization for students.

The response to this situation should involve joint action by the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Ministry of Health, aimed at coordinating the process of returning to school, in consultation with epidemiologists and organizations representing state and municipal secretaries of both education and health. In the absence of such coordination, education administrators have been making minor renovations to schools to prepare them for an uncertain return, both in terms of sanitary conditions and to ensure greater connectivity that can support the continuity of remote learning, especially for those who were unable to participate in the first phase. In addition, they are preparing health and educational protocols.

But it is precisely the educational protocols that we need to discuss. The restrooms and the actual date of the return to school should be the responsibility of health authorities.

As schools reopen, the teaching process should incorporate much of what we have learned during the remote learning phase, including how to use the Internet for instructional purposes. This, along with the staggered schedules resulting from the division of classrooms to ensure social distancing, will set us on the path toward building a hybrid education system.

Like anything that results from a process of learning by doing, hybrid learning won’t be perfect, but it will represent a significant step forward compared to the predominant form of teaching today. Only time will tell!

Learn more about the author:

Did you like this content? Share it on your social media: