Shall school reopen in August / September 2020 or shall they remain close. By opening the schools, we are exposing our children to the Corona virus including the teachers. If few teachers in a given school get the virus the school will not be able to handle it and will have to close after a few weeks. Social distancing in school is almost impossible, how can you tell a 7-year-old child to keep a distance of at least 1 to 2 meters from his friends, how will you separate the class of 30 to 40 pupils. How will the toilet be managed? Are there enough support staff to handle all the issues that might arise?
Most of the schools in the world are underfunded, teachers are underpaid, technology is lacking, and if any it is only in private schools. 700,000 people around the world died from the Corona Virus by July end, the figure is growing day by day, although the school remains closed in most of the world. The number could be double or triple if the government decides to reopen the school randomly without safe measure.
Ziyyara believes going back to school in the fall is very risky, schools are not ready, teachers are not ready, and the world is not ready. Either we skip the whole year, and no one attends school, therefore no loss or gain until a vaccine is found.
Ziyyara’s virtual one-on-one learning believes there is an alternative solution is a combination of school and online learning. Children can go to school a few hours per day on selective days on a rotation basis. Teachers will have to be in school each day handling problems, homework and answering any concern. Students will do all they study from home, in the aid of online learning which can be on a daily basis like you are in a school. The teacher will be present most of the time to answer any query. Group online classes at a given time per day will also be presented.
The above alternative solution might leave millions of children out, given the limited internet penetration, absence of internet connectivity at home and a computer or a laptop for each child at home to attend the visual classroom. Given the parents are also either working from home or in the office supervision of younger children will be almost impossible.
With Covid-19 still looming and no vaccine breakthrough until 2021, a combination of virtual learning and school only acts as a reference point and by appointment only, Ziyyara thinks this is the best alternative solution. Students can learn from home and once or twice a week in the school, therefore social distance can be kept, and the school will not be crowded.
Ziyyara’s one-on-one online tuition or group classes can work with the school to provide classes on demand. Ziyyara has experienced online teachers around the world, therefore timing will not be an issue, students can attend either group classes or one-on-one online tuition any time they feel like and any topic they prefer. Instead of teaching our children to memorize and only to pass the exam, we teach them systematic learning and problem solving. The student can be either in the USA or the UK and our teacher can be in India, with Ziyyara one-on-one online tuition timing is not an issue, the focus is on learning whether from home or at school.
School teachers with the help of Ziyyara’s one-on-one online tuition can work together to facilitate the student and make the class more enjoyable and beneficiary and most importantly safer. Therefore, Ziyyara’s distance or virtual one-on-one learning will act as a mediator between school and children especially those kids who are finding it difficult to learn in the home group class environment. Not all the children are created equally therefore we cannot treat them the same, some children will excel in virtual learning and some will not. Working or studying from home is not easy with so much destruction such as Netflix, social media, other siblings, and the internet. Children cannot stay hours learning in front of the screen, destruction will always be there. Ziyyara with qualified personnel will work with the teacher, help them, educate them to make the process of online and virtual learning easy.
Government will also be needed to work with the parents and the school. Parents with no extra help to take care of the children can work from home, unemployment benefit need to be distributed if they lose their job, medical expenses should be supplemented or provided for free for the needed family, internet connection should be at minimum cost and fast enough to allow video conferencing and computer or tablet with educational material need to be provided for each student.
Ziyyara, a personalized one-on-one online tuition provider can work with the government to provide subject material and design homework and fun subjects for the child to work with.
Covid-19 will be with us for a while, the government needs to work together, schools need to help each other, and families need to stay safe for the sake of their children, Ziyyara believes only together will be able to solve the current pandemic.