EDITORIAL - Hard decisions to make

As far as President Rodrigo Duterte is concerned, there ought to be no classes unless a vaccine for COVID-19 has become available to the public.

We cannot agree more with this statement. We all know how overburdened our school system has become. Year after year we find out that we need more and more desks, classrooms, and learning materials for a seemingly ever-increasing number of students.

They are practically crammed in the classrooms, canteens, and other places around the campus. You can just imagine the risk of not just infection but exponential infection.

Yes, holding off classes is a good idea, but we must also be prepared to deal with the consequences of this action, should it ever become final.

A vaccine can take some time to develop despite all the promises by the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world and the smartest people in this field. Then even after a likely vaccine is developed, it will have to undergo clinical trials and testing, which also doesn’t happen quickly.

Why, just the other day, the World Health Organization ordered the end of the trials of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19 after recommendations by health experts. This only shows you how any search for a cure can suddenly arrive at a dead end, even after months of study.

So if students are not allowed to report to classes until a vaccine is available, it might be realistic to expect them not to report to school until 2021, which is when experts say a vaccine could be available. And this is just an optimistic estimate.

Considering that quarantine restrictions are expected to be eased soon in many areas of the country, the government should prepare itself to deal with bored youths who have nothing to do and youths who were expecting to enter college but now have nowhere to go.

We also have to deal with our ever-increasing student population. In 2021, will schools be prepared to deal with those entering school because they have come of age plus those who have missed school this year?

There are hard choices to be made when it comes to education in the new normal. We certainly don’t envy those who have to make the final decisions.