Prioritising School Reopening On The Road To Recovery

Context: Children have long borne the costs of school closure, and evidence-based decisions toward reopening are a necessity.

Impact of school closure

• Widened attainment gap across students: The bottom half of children passing Class 10 are about two years behind in terms of skills. Prolonged school closure has already widened this gap, pushing the next generation deeper into poverty.
• Increased case for drop-out: A survey across 10 States in India in November 2020 estimated that nearly two-thirds of children in rural India might drop out of school.
• Haryana has reported a 42% drop in student enrolment in private schools.
• Social evils like child labour, child marriage scenario worsen.
• Under-nutrition issues: Disruption of mid-day meal scheme can increase underweight and wasting.
• Impact on the mental health of children: In Las Vegas, the U.S., a surge of student suicides forced schools to reopen in January 2021. The UK reported a 40% rise in number of children taking antidepressants.

Case for reopening school

• Risk of COVID-19 for children is much lower for children:
  • Based on a study of 137 million school-age children in U.S. and Europe, COVID-19 in this age group is less than half as risky as seasonal influenza, and over 20 times less risky than death by “unintentional injury”.
  • As per Mumbai’s dashboard data, COVID-19 IFR (Infection Fatality Rate) for under-19 is minuscule, about 0.003%, much less than 3% infant mortality rate in India.
  • A study among nearly two million children in Sweden, where schools have been open throughout, found that there was not a single child death due to COVID-19.
• Refuting worries of the third wave and new variants affecting children: 
  • Age profiles of those affected in the second and first waves are similar.
  • Public Health England’s June 2021 report shows that the newer variant Delta is much less dangerous (case fatality rate 0.1%) than the original (case fatality rate 1.9%).
• Addressing risk for teachers and parents on school reopening: Studies in Europe and the US cites risk of COVID-19 spread in schools is minimal compared to other locations.
  • To further reduce concern among teachers, Government must treat them on a par with essential workers and offer them prioritised vaccination.
• Upholding social equity: For children who lack resources, whose parents have to go out to work every day, in-person schooling is paramount.

Challenges in reopening school

• Policy challenge – “One-size-fits-all” approach may not be suitable: As each individual’s risk-benefit analysis could be different.
• Issues with vaccination of children: Need for careful risk-benefit analysis as there are growing concerns in the U.S. of a potential link between heart inflammation and mRNA vaccine among adolescents.
• The British Medical Journal (May 2021) noted - “The rarity of severe Covid-19 outcomes for children means that trials cannot demonstrate that the balance of the benefits of vaccination against the potential adverse effects are favourable...”.

Conclusion: Policymakers must make evidence-based decisions toward school reopening. This is the least the working class and the children of India deserve.