TORONTO – Alberta and British Columbia – unlike Ontario and other provinces – do not stop in front of the constantly increasing number of Covid cases and continue quickly with their school reopening plan. Since today all the students have returned to their classes. “Experts across Canada and around the world continue to emphasize the importance of face-to-face learning to preserve the overall health of our children and youth,” Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said at a press conference.
At the moment there are many parents who would like to sink distance learning that they consider useless and harmful for children. “Most kids feel more connected, learn better and generally thrive when they attend school,” LaGrange added, “this is why the Alberta government has prioritized safe education in the classroom and tries to make sure our schools have the tools they need.”
Meanwhile, the war on online lessons runs on the web. A group of more than 3,000 people – 3,400 to be precise – joined an online group to boycott the transfer of Ontario students to virtual classes.
The Facebook group as of Friday afternoon, used the hashtag #dontlogon as a rallying cry for parents who are now forced to switch to online learning for the fourth time during this Covid-19 pandemic. “We chose not to accept online study,” Lisa Donegan Baetz told CTV News Toronto, “weighing the stress on the value of the education kids are actually getting online, our decision was not to let our children participate.”
“My two children miss the routine, seeing their friends, their teacher – added Oxana Roma – I do not know how much a five-year-old child is really learning at the computer when he is at home with all sorts of distractions. What kind of education is this?”
To reconcile the distance learning of children with work and daily commitments in general, it is necessary to make the leaps and bounds, other parents have said. Meanwhile, the fundraising organized by the Ontario Families Coalition continues to be able to file a legal action against the government: the Go Fund Me page has so far reached $ 30,265.
Meanwhile, the government is making a silent scene. The only statement, which also reiterates what has already been said previously, was that of the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Education Caitlin Clark. “We know that parents and students are facing great levels of difficulty in coping with this global pandemic – said Clark – we believe it is important that students continue to follow their teacher, which is why we have decided that at least 70% of the day should be dedicated to live lessons”.
Clark also reiterated the government’s commitment to improving schools’ ventilation systems, distributing N95 masks to staff and three-layer masks to students, as well as ensuring accelerated access to vaccine booster doses. The ultimate goal is to be able to return the students of the province to the classes on January 17 even if Prime Minister Ford has declared that he cannot yet say for sure if it really will be so.
