It is quite baffling, that as a nation we project one reality when we know that on the ground, the average citizen sees the situation in a completely different vein.We speak to the issue of the return to full face-to-face classes in our schools since the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to introduce online teaching and then a hybrid process of education for the nation’s children.There is no denying that our children’s education has been harmed over the past two to three years and that we cannot continue to watch their performance deteriorate.The cognitive dissonance is occurring with the dismantling of most of the remaining protocols that formed the backbone of our COVID-19 mitigation measures, while at the same time, our government has acquired thousands of doses of COVID vaccines specifically for children.On the one hand, the Ministry of Education has made it clear that the three-foot physical distancing rule is being abandoned, the number of days in isolation for the disease has been cut significantly for those whose infection has been confirmed, and most important, there is no requirement to be vaccinated against the disease in order to return to school next week.Meanwhile, co-coordinator of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, Dr Elizabeth Ferdinand is expressing concern that too few children are being brought to the vaccination centres to get the free protection from the viral illness.
