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COVID-19 HAS shut the world’s schools. Three in four children live in
countries where all classrooms are closed. The disruption is
unprecedented. Unless it ends soon, its effect on young minds could be
devastating.
During some epidemics keeping children at home is wise; they are efficient
spreaders of diseases such as seasonal flu. However, they appear to be less
prone to catching and passing on covid-19. Closing schools may bring some
benefit in slowing the spread of the disease, but less than other measures.
Against this are stacked the heavy costs to children’s development, to their
parents and to the economy (see article).
Poorer children suffer most. Zoom lessons are little use if your home lacks
good Wi-Fi, or if you have to fight with three siblings over a single phone.
And whereas richer families often include well-educated parents who prod
their offspring to do their homework and help when they get stuck, poorer
families may not.
In normal times school helps level the playing field. Without it, the
achievement gap between affluent and working-class children will grow. By
one estimate, American eight-year-olds whose learning stopped altogether
with the lockdown could lose nearly a year’s maths by autumn, as they fail
to learn new material and forget much of what they already knew.
School matters for parents, too, especially those with young children.
Those who work at home are less productive if distracted by loud wails and
the eerie silence that portends jam being spread on the sofa. Those who
work outside the home cannot do so unless someone minds their offspring.
And since most child care is carried out by mothers, they will lose ground
in the workplace while schools remain shut.
In poor countries the costs are even greater. Schools there often provide
free lunches, staving off malnutrition, and serve as hubs for vaccinating
children against other diseases. Pupils who stay at home now may never
return. If the lockdown pushes their families into penury, they may have to
go out to work. Better to re-open schools, so that parents can earn and
children can study.
The obvious rejoinder is that shutting schools brings benefits. Covid-19 can
be deadly. Parents do not want their children to catch it or to give it to
grandma.
Nor is there evidence that children who do end up catching the disease are
silent spreaders who pass it on to their families. Researchers in Iceland
and the Netherlands have not found a single case in which a child brought
the virus into their family. The European Centre for Disease Prevention
and Control, the European Union’s public-health agency, said last week
that child-to-adult transmission “appears to be uncommon”.
Reopening schools may feel like a rash experiment with young lives. In fact
it is an exercise in risk-balancing. Schools are the most powerful engines of
social mobility in any society. Let the children in, and let them learn. ■
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This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the
headline "Open schools first"