Over the past 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupt our daily routine, and impacted our children’s education and mental health. Children have been in and out of school, forced into isolation and had to readjust the life they once knew.

As parents, we were left with the choice of sending our children to school once school reopened, which may increase the risk of catching COVID-19 or keep our children at home, with the risk of emotional distress as well as learning loss. A hard choice indeed!

In a statement earlier this year, UNICEF stated that they “welcome and fully support the decision to reopen schools in Malaysia.” A school isn’t just a place to get an education, it is a microcosm of society, where children can access all sorts of provisions like psychosocial support and even nutrition. Some children also see their school as a safe space. Schools reopening will allow students to access these services, and to learn, connect and play with their friends again.

There are a number of repercussions of not sending students to physical schools, and some of it includes:

• Interrupted learning- Children at home tend to be less focused due to distractions that surround them.
• Confusion and stress for teachers- Resulting in messy and frustrating learning programmes that can then affect their students.
• Social Isolation- Schools are hubs of social activity and human interaction. Children who don’t go to school may miss out on social contact that is essential to learning and development.
• Challenges in measuring and validating learning

The good news is, some schools are offering hybrid learning options for parents who are still worried. REAL Kids for example, incorporates hybrid learning where teachers conduct both offline and online classes for the students simultaneously.

This gives parents the freedom to choose for their children whether to be physically present or virtually present in a classroom.

With the pandemic and now the newly-found variant of COVID-19, many schools have upped their game on safety protocols. In fact, the COVID-19 Safety Protocols in REAL Kids are developed in partnership with Columbia Asia Hospital and their staff are all 100% vaccinated, which definitely puts our mind as parents at ease since many of us have not much of a choice due to work and not having anyone to take care of our children.

So if you’re still contemplating on whether you should send your child to school physically or not, find out about the options provided by the school and decide from there which option suits you best.