Distancing very hard

By JINA AMBA
PRACTISING social distancing in schools is very difficult as most schools are overcrowded, a head teacher in Port Moresby says.
Ted Diro Primary School’s Hane Charlie told The National that they were making sure students wore masks and sanitised their hands before entering the school premises.
“Social distancing in this school, I will not deny the fact that we are overcrowded, it’s hard to follow. The only thing we have to do is (wear) face masks and hand sanitising and hand washing,” she said.
Charlie said Ted Diro started off at the gate to ensure students and staff wore masks and sanitised their hands before entering the school premises.
“We had an assembly this morning and announced that all the staff and students must follow Covid-19 protocols,” she said.
“We advised them that if they feel sick at home, they should not be here in school and if they get sick here, they must notify us very quickly so we can call their parents to come and pick them up.
“We announced to them that after playing, they must wash their hands before they get into their classrooms so all that protocols in this school are strictly followed.”
Jubilee Catholic Secondary School (also in Port Moresby) principal Barbara Miles said social distancing was a challenge faced by schools.
Miles said if schools wanted to take a few students at a time, they would miss lessons and students would be affected.
She said the school administration was making sure students wore masks at all times and washed their hands regularly with soap and water and sanitised their hands.
Charlie said teachers were frontline workers and they should be vaccinated like health workers.
She said teachers interacted daily with students who came from diffident homes.
“Teachers should be the very first ones to be vaccinated, we are frontline workers so we should be vaccinated with the health officers,” Charlie said.
“Why didn’t they give us the priority?”
We are facing different students from different homes and backgrounds.”
Charlie said teachers were vulnerable to Covid-19 because most teachers had been diagnosed with asthma or shortness of breath caused by chalk dust.
Miles however said vaccines should be a personal choice for teachers.
“There are so many different stories about the vaccine so people read and they interpret things differently. They should leave it optional for everyone,” Miles said.
Earlier, Education Minister Jimmy Uguro said schools and teachers should be responsible for their own safety against the Covid-19.
“The Covid-19 is a worldwide pandemic and is not an institutional issue (therefore) we should not use it as an excuse to penalise our schools and children,” he said.