Four out of five teachers around the globe believe it is not yet safe to return to the classroom because of the coronavirus pandemic, a poll carried out by one of the world’s largest education conferences showed.
Global educators were also asked to rate their governments’ responses to the outbreak, with more than half giving their leaders a D grade or worse.
The research was undertaken by the organisers of the forthcoming T4 conference, a free online gathering to enable teachers to discuss the effects of the pandemic on world education.
Of the more than 4,000 teachers from 33 countries who responded to the questions, only 8 per cent awarded their governments an A for their handling of the crisis.
Not a single teacher from the United Kingdom, which is suffering from Europe's worst outbreak of Covid-19, awarded Prime Minister Boris Johnson the top mark.
Teachers were primarily concerned with student welfare, the research showed. Around 40 per cent cited concern over health risks to pupils and their families as a cause for concern, compared to 35 per cent expressing concern over their own safety.
Assessing the impact that the pandemic has already had on education, roughly one quarter of respondents said they were concerned there was a risk of pupils falling behind.
Measures imposed by governments around the world to limit the spread of the virus have seen schools shut, exams postponed and millions of pupils adopt home-schooling arrangements.
Although schools in some countries, such as South Korea and the United States, have begun to reopen, the United Nations estimates that about 1.3 billion children have been kept out of school by the pandemic.
“For the first time in recent history, we have a common phenomenon that has impacted the way we all live and work,” said the T4 host, Vikas Pota.
“As difficult as this has been, it provides us with a real opportunity to share and learn and progress together.”
The T4 conference, which is scheduled for May 30, was originally intended as a platform for informal ideas-sharing between teaching colleagues.
More than 50,000 teachers from 67 countries are now expected to come together in what could become the world’s largest teaching conference.
---------------
-
A health worker takes a swab from a woman during a mass testing in an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Reuters -
A woman reacts during a mass burial of people who passed away due to the coronavirus, at the Parque Taruma cemetery in Manaus, Brazil. Reuters -
Mariette, a resident of the Christalain residence gets prepared by caregivers before the arrival of her daughter Patricia for a visit at Residence Christalain in Brussels, Belgium. EPA -
Traders wearing masks work, on the first day of in person trading since the closure during the outbreak of the coronavirus on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange. Reuters -
Rusia Goes, a nurse who gave birth on April 26 hooked to a ventilator tube to help her breath as she battled severe symptoms of Covid-19, carries her daughter Luisa, after she was released from the hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Reuters -
Passengers wearing protective masks get off a subway train at Shibuya station in Tokyo, Japan. Reuters -
People enjoy the sun at Carcavelos beach in Cascais in the outskirts of Lisbon as temperatures rise and the Portuguese government loosens a lockdown put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus. AFP -
People get free Covid-19 tests without needing to show ID, doctor's note or symptoms, at a drive-through and walk up Coronavirus testing centre located at Barcroft Community Centre in the Arlington zip code with the highest concentration of Coronavirus cases, in Arlington, Virginia. AFP -
The Kuwait-flagged live export ship 'Al Kuwait' moors in Fremantle, Australia. The ship arrived in Fremantle from the UAE on May 22 and six crew members have tested positive for coronavirus. They have been moved off the ship to a Perth hotel for quarantine. EPA -
Two women wearing the face masks look at a piece as part of the exhibition of British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner 'Turner - Paintings and watercolours from the Tate' at the Jacquemart-Andre Museum on the first day of the reopening in Paris. AFP -
Diane Colangelo, who lost her mother, Patricia Crump to Covid-19, on May 6 is comforted by her husband John Colangelo at Orchard Villa Retirement Residence where several residents died of the coronavirus, in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. Reuters -
Harpist and cemetery worker Charlie Juarez performs while Gregoria Zumaeta, 44, left, mourns the death of her brothers Jorge Zumaeta, 50, and Miguel Zumaeta, 54, who died from Covid-19, at the Nueva Esperanza cemetery on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. AP Photo
