Kuwait Times, Monday, Oct 4, 2021 | Safar 27, 1443
Kuwait reopens schools amid strict precautions after 19-month shutdown
Kuwait:
Thousands of students across Kuwait returned yesterday to their classes as the
country decided to reopen schools after 19 months of closure due to the COVID-19
pandemic. With a smile on his face, Ali Al-Mhana, a 10th grader, wears his
school uniform and a face mask waiting for his friends outside the school in
Hawally Governorate. “I will meet all my friends again. I never thought I would
say that, but I missed school,” he told Xinhua.
Mhana wasn’t the only one expecting to return to school. Reem Amro, who will be
in 12th grade, expresses happiness of going back to school after months of
lockdowns and boredom. “At first, we were happy when schools were suspended. It
was a vacation, but after months I started to be bored and lost connection with
many friends due to the coronavirus pandemic where there were no visits and
meetups,” Amro said.
For the first time, Alia Al-Edwan, a housewife, spent hours on the traffic jam
to reach her daughter’s school. “I used to stay at home and make activities for
my children inside the home, but now I have to deal with the outside world
again,” she said. Edwan added that e-learning was good for her family as she
used to have full supervision of her daughter during classes.
However, for Hannah Al-Essawi, a mother of a student, e-learning wasn’t a
successful move. “Children have suffered enormous setbacks in their learning
journey. Most students weren’t paying attention to the teacher during class,
homework was cancelled, and no sports activities to evolve the child’s
character,” she complained.
Iman Al-Taki, a teacher, said that traditional and direct education is much
better than distance education since the student is under the supervision of the
teacher and also the student can focus and ask the teacher about the curriculum.
The Ministry of Education has developed a plan aiming to provide a safe
educational environment by applying health requirements and implementing a plan
that includes social distancing, reducing the number of students in classes, and
not allowing the unvaccinated to enter without a weekly negative PCR test
certificate.
Parents welcomed the return of schools, but some of them complained about the
weekly PCR test as it is an extra cost because most of them have more than one
child. As a resumption plan, the ministry decided to divide the school students
into two groups, where the first attend on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays,
while the other attends on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the days are switched
between the two groups weekly.