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the reopening of schools, a puzzle for low-income families

Published on : 03/09/2020 – 08:02

New York public schools have postponed the start of the school year by eleven days to September 21, under an agreement reached with teachers’ unions demanding additional safety measures against the new coronavirus. Despite this postponement, a question arises for the most modest families. Should we send our children to school at the risk of infection or keep them at home and not work?

AT New York, the most modest families are in full dilemma a few days before the start of the school year. Even if the Democratic town hall postponed, on Tuesday, September 1, the opening of establishments from September 10 to 21 to satisfy a teachers’ union which requested additional health measures, the start of the school year is a real headache. Should children be sent to school at the risk of catching the novel coronavirus and infect a family without health insurance? Or keep them at home to attend school online, at the risk of compromising their education and preventing their parents from working?

Maria R., a domestic worker of Mexican origin, who requested anonymity because she is undocumented, explains that she resolved to send her 7 and 14-year-old children to school, despite serious concerns.

“Will they be equipped to accommodate the children safely? What days will they go to school? Will there be outdoor classes, and what will happen in cold or rainy weather?” Many questions bother this 35-year-old woman, who queues at a free food distribution in her neighborhood in Queens.

Strong social inequalities

Poorer families, often black and immigrant like Maria’s, cannot afford the luxury of hiring private tutors to help with online classes, unlike affluent, over-represented families in Manhattan.

Parents of modest means also cannot rely on reliable Internet access, nor can they help their children themselves: often the technical aspects intimidate them, they speak poor English and have not finished their school themselves.

To the United States, country which registered the record number of more than 185,000 dead of the new coronavirus, the resumption of school has become a political battle issue as the November presidential election approaches, Donald Trump having pushed to reopen establishments to help revive the economy.

Some Republican-run states, such as Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee or Indiana, had initially followed his advice, but some schools later backed down after a sudden spike in the number of cases.

The other big American cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia and Miami have planned a virtual re-entry only.

Online education set up

Some 37% of New York City families, including low-income families, proportionately more affected by the pandemic due to a higher incidence of chronic disease and often non-existent health insurance, however, have chosen not to send their children at school.

More than a third of the approximately 1.1 million New York schoolchildren will therefore follow an education only online, an option offered by the town hall. “I know they won’t learn the same thing at home, but they’d better lose a year and be healthy,” said Marisa Machado, an unemployed cook from Brooklyn, who is raising three children on her own.

The New York City Hall, like many experts, stresses that face-to-face education is essential both for the mental health of children and to avoid a worsening of the educational “gap” between wealthy and modest backgrounds.

“A lost school year has direct consequences in terms of income” once a child reaches adulthood, and the poorest students are the most affected, underlines Naomi Bardach, pediatrician and professor of public health at the University of California at San Francisco. “The negative effects are proven, both financially and in terms of health,” she says.

Still, the fear of the virus is omnipresent in the neighborhoods most affected by the pandemic. “The fear is there, the children are afraid too. We must survive” the pandemic, testifies Miguel Hernandez, employee of Mexican origin currently unemployed, who also does not want to send his three children to school .

With AFP

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