DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Residents of Damascus called to postpone the date of starting the new academic year fearing the spread of coronavirus among students in light of the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health in the Syrian government announced the total number of infections as 3,289 cases.
Shahir Hammoud who lives in Baramkeh neighborhood in central Damascus said that he is afraid of sending his only son to school.
He added that if there is an infected child in school, he will infect the rest, “children do not know the methods of prevention, as even the elderly are being infected despite their awareness.”
In July, the Syrian Ministry of Education set the date for the start of the school year in all public and private schools, on the first of September.
Few days later, it postponed the opening to 13 September, due to a government decision issued after the Ministry of Education’s decision.
At that time, the government issued a health protocol and called for its application to schools in order to preserve the safety of students and educational personnel.
Yasser Helwan, father of three and lives in Damascus, said it is better to postpone the opening of schools, “because children are unable to apply the rules of social physical distancing.”
”Health awareness is absent, especially in our schools that lack heygen materials, as cleaning bathrooms and facilities is not obligatory,” he said.
Helwan pointed out that there were no follow-up instructions for children by doctors or health workers.
Samir Atwan, a father of two, lives in Damascus, said the schools in Syria aren’t properly equipped, to help in compact this global pandemic.
He added that the experiences of all countries that have suffered from the outbreak of the epidemic confirm that teachers and students’ families will be infected with the virus and will have negative effects, while children will not have symptoms.
He said “I hope that schools opening will be postponed or not all students attend the classes, make the attendance limited to only students of nine grade and secondary, until this pandemic ends.”
The Ministry of Education published on its official Facebook account, on Tuesday, that it had received several proposals regarding the opening of schools.
There is a proposal to postpone the beginning date of the academic year, for a period of 15 days for primary school students only, with the opening of schools for the preparatory and secondary stages.
This is because middle school and high school students can adhere to preventive measures, which cannot happen with children in the primary stage, according to the ministry’s post.
Regarding school health procedures, Dr. Abdullah Badran, a member of the school health team in Damascus, said there is a wide sterilization process initiated by the Ministry of Education.”
He added that sterilization took place on water tanks as well, with some repairs being made, as it covered more than 409 schools in the capital, Damascus.
He said that there is a plan to send medical teams periodically to schools to monitor any case, then take appropriate preventative measures.