The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has doubled-down on its decision to shutter schools until July 1 to protect children from the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The government said that the health concerns outweigh other considerations regarding schools, this despite department stores being allowed to reopen last week.
“There is a difference between the two,” said CSSA Dr Thaweesin Visanuyothin.
Dr Thaweesin said that schools are mostly occupied with children who are more vulnerable to infections since they are less careful when it comes to physical contact with other children.
“This is a common knowledge that common cold and flu outbreak will normally happen when school reopen,” he said. “There is also a change in season as we are entering the raining season.”
The spokesman added that distance learning was a viable alternative to reopening schools.
Despite government concerns, many critics and experts believe that schools should be reopened as soon as possible since the government’s measures to support learning from home are inadequate.
Reopen now
One of the most vocal critics, Nattakorn Devakula, a TV commentator has expressed his disgust that schools have remained closed.
One of the main opposition parties, the Move Forward Party have also recommended a 12-points health and safety measures that would allow for schools to reopen in June.
Both argue that the disparity of income and development across the country means that distance learning and other options are not universally accessible and that schools should reopen.
“Schools should be reopened by June,” Pavida Pananond, an associate professor at Thammasat Business School’s Department of International Business, Logistics and Transport told Thai Enquirer.
“It should now be the number one priority for CCSA to discuss because children, especially those who need care and supervision by their parent, are the ones that are suffering from irregular routine.”
She said many small children around the world are having trouble concentrating when comes to learning online by themselves without a classroom structure. She added that for education purpose, classrooms must not be disrupted by irregularity.
“In the past few months, the super spreaders and infection sites are not schools,” she said.
“The cost of having zero infections must be balanced with the costs of other disruptions to our society,” she added.
She also said that Thailand is already at a different stage of fighting against the coronavirus so allowing schools to reopen with social distancing measures is something that the CCSA should seriously think about now.
“Preparing for social measures before reopening the schools can be done now to put students back to school,” Pavida insisted.
She also pointed out that the state offering of free online education has highlighted the inequality present in Thailand.
Public and private schools were ordered shut by the government since March and schools that can afford it have already gone ahead with their own online learning programs.
The government has made accessible free online learning via 17 free DLTV channels between May 18 and June 30. A website was also launched alongside the channels but it crashed within the first day of offering last Monday.
Many reports show students complaining via the use of #เรียนออนไลน์ hashtag.
Most of them said that they were unable to connect to the website, the teachers were too fast, and they have slow internet at home.
“For students with iPad, stable Wi-Fi, and a quiet place to study, it might not be as disruptive,” Pavida said.
“However, there are many students who do not have to all of that and their weak access to upward mobility in education will be hampered even more because the free online option is not really catering to their needs,” she added.
