Back to School amid the spread of Coronavirus Pandemic

 A total of 3,735,521 Syrian students returned to 13,280 schools in Syria with the beginning of the new academic year on September 13th. This academic year is different from the previous ones as the Coronavirus epidemic hits the whole world. However, the Syrian Ministry of Education took several measures to clean schools and used detergents to disinfect classrooms and the interior of schools.

The schools’ opening was initially scheduled for the beginning of September, but it was postponed until September 13 over Coronavirus pandemic concerns.

On August 20, the Ministry of Education issued the health protocol for the return to schools in preparation for the start of the new school year in accordance with the requirements of maintaining the level of education in Syria.

At the schools of Damascus, students were seen wearing face masks on their first school day, while educational supervisors were spraying disinfectants on their hands, before they entered their classrooms.

 “The Directorate of Education appointed at least a health adviser to each school, to assess and report the health situation of teachers and students. The Directorate stressed that the protective measures should be adhered to, as coronavirus infections are still being recorded in Damascus and its suburbs,” Mohammad, 40-years old, a supervisor in a school in the Governorate of Damascus Rural said to Syria Times.

On September 22, the Syrian Ministry of Health announced that the number of Coronavirus infections recorded in Syria has reached 3877, of which 983 have recovered, and 178 have died.

With these official statistics of Coronavirus infections, the students’ parents expressed their fears about sending their children to school.

“I hoped that the Ministry of Education would delay the opening of the school year another month to assess the situation of Coronavirus pandemic in the country. The opening of school will cause a rise in disease infection cases, especially with the high number of pupils in each school classroom, which may reach 50 to 60 per class. This is a blatant violation of precautionary measures,” Um Tariq, 40-year-old, mother said to Syria Times.

“My son told me that there are 50 pupils in his classroom. This is too much. Three pupils sit in one desk and are very close to each other,” Um Tariq said, whose son studies in a school in a suburb of southern Damascus.

“I understand and accept all criticisms of parents who have the right to express their fears. Damascus Countryside Education Directorate took all protective measures such as the school sterilization and cleaning campaign as part of precautionary measures to address the Corona epidemic,” observer Mohammad said.

“The Directorate worked hard to achieve a safe and clean healthy environment in classrooms, clean drinking water tanks and clean toilets,” he added.

With the hard-economic situation and the devaluation of the national currency in Syria, the Ministry of Education determined the necessary requirements of school stationery for every student at all levels and to ease the adherence to the school uniforms to help the parents.

The ministry said that the purpose of determining the necessary requirements of school stationery is clear to parents, students, teachers, and school administration.

“It is good that the school’s directors and observers don’t force students to buy too many notebooks and stationery. The price of stationary has tripled compared to last year. Each student needs at least 50.000 SP while my monthly salary is 55000 SP, the cheapest school bag is 10.000 SP while the good one reached 50.000. The price of a blue pen is 300 SP, a 100-sheet notebook price is 800 to 1000 SP,” Abu Rami, 50-year-old, governmental employee who has three children in a governmental school in Damascus city said to Syria Times.

“But on the other hand, I appreciate the government’s effort to provide somehow free education to our children, such as distributing books for pupils for free and other basic services,” Abu Rami added.

In spite of the hard economic and health situation which Syria is subjected to, the Ministry of Education is still freely-fostering the education process in the country without any conditions.

End.

Written by O.al-Mohammad/Inas Abdulkareem