File photo of a teacher and her pupils
Coronavirus disease is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) CoV-2 virus.
This ancient disease has gained significant global health attention since the year 2019 due to the emergence of a highly virulent strain named COVID-19 which has spread rapidly from individuals through countries to continents and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in such alarming proportions that the world has never witnessed in recent times.
This pandemic has also carried in its wake major disruptions in various sectors of human life including business and commerce, health care, entertainment, and sports, with the educational sector not being spared.
The mechanism of spreading the coronavirus disease is largely human-to-human from an infected person’s mouth or nose via respiratory droplet particles or aerosols, in instances such as coughing, sneezing, speaking, singing or even breathing.
The disease consequently manifests in the majority of infected individuals as mild to moderate flu-like and respiratory symptoms which would usually resolve with good supportive immune care and effective infection control precautions. Noteworthy, the disease can affect anybody at any age and result in serious illness or death.
Nevertheless, some susceptible individuals such as the aged and people with underlying medical conditions like chronic respiratory disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer often develop severe acute respiratory distress syndrome with deterioration to respiratory failure sometimes requiring invasive ventilator support with resultant high mortality as is being perpetrated by COVID-19.
In the peak of the COVID-19 scare, many countries imposed strict restrictions on human movement and gatherings and this led to the shutdown of schools for a year and beyond. With giant strides made to curtail this menace, alongside the wide held belief that the disease has “come to stay with us,” many countries have cautiously come a long way in easing lockdown restrictions for important activities such as schooling to resume.
This places a significant responsibility on the shoulders of stakeholders including teachers who deal directly with students to ensure that teaching and learning are conducted in a safe and healthy environment. The following are some of the measures teachers could adopt in this pandemic era.
First and foremost, teachers need to prioritize education about the essential facts about coronavirus disease. Education will empower all individuals within the school environment to be able to recognize risks and dangers to themselves and be proactive in applying safety measures.
It is important to note that some students might be returning to school from households and communities where they heard false information about COVID-19 and so educators need to be aware of such fake information and dangerous myths about COVID-19 circulating that are feeding fear and stigma.
Education could be done not only via classroom lectures but application through reading and research projects and extracurricular media such as artwork, performing arts, funfairs, and sporting events, among others, that will engage and reinforce ideals in the minds of the students.
Furthermore, teachers need to act as the primary enforcers of COVID-19 protocols in schools. With a greater understanding of COVID-19, its mode of spread, and protective measures, an important first step is to establish classroom procedures and protocols in accordance with the procedures established by their school’s administration and the national governing health authority.
For example, teachers could develop lists around how students will greet each other safely; how desks will be arranged; and physical distancing measures. In addition, there should be a reinforcement of frequent hand-washing and sanitation, and if possible, placement of alcohol-based hand sanitizers at vantage points such as entrances and exits of classrooms, near dining halls, and toilets.
Efforts should be made to ensure the use of face masks with safe disposal measures to avoid the risk of contaminated masks in classrooms and playgrounds. Facemasks, however, do not have to interfere with learning nor should students be denied access to education because of mask-wearing or the lack of a mask because of low resources or unavailability.
Also, students need to be encouraged to avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth to avoid the spread of germs onto their clean hands and thence around the school environment. It is essential that all within the school environment are informed on what is expected of them and the corresponding sanctions that would result from flouting regulations.
Teachers should listen to concerns and ideas raised and answer appropriately. To encourage students to stick to the rules, it may be helpful to allow students to act as change agents and enforcers over each other.
Moreover, in line with the upholding of protocols, teachers need to augment nationwide vaccination efforts against COVID-19 through positive examples. Vaccination is an important public health intervention to tackle the spread of the coronavirus and teachers themselves need to obtain the right information and prioritize its importance so that they could lead the way in getting fully vaccinated first and thereby encouraging their students to also get vaccinated.
Teachers should make all efforts to address misconceptions about the COVID-19 vaccination from reliable sources such as the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the health authorities devoid of personal, political, and religious biases.
Last but not least, teachers can act as key players in this pandemic era by embracing innovation and technology in teaching and learning. Covid-19 has taught us that schoolwork could be done conveniently from distant locations through technological platforms such as video conferencing, emails, and social media with the achievement of similar if not enhanced outcomes.
Since much of the population continues to be at risk of the disease with the several mutated variants of COVID-19, caution needs to be exercised with the duration and frequency of contact hours during school. In this modern era with widespread internet access, much of school work could still be accomplished through online avenues and should be incorporated into modern teaching and learning engagements that would be suitable and fun for students at various levels.
To sum it all up, teachers are a pivotal part of the success of COVID-19 mitigation efforts in schools and therefore need to collaborate with school administrative authorities, parents, and students alike in a united front through public education measures, enforcement of protocols, and adoption of modern technology in order to win the battle against the surge of COVID-19 and its disruptive consequences, particularly in the all-essential educational sector.