Other Countries Return To School
Students are brought to school by their parents in Rostock, Germany Monday, Aug. 3, 2020 as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is the first federal state to resume regular school operations throughout the state. About 150,000 students are expected to attend their schools. Bernd W'stneck/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa via AP
By June, more than 20 countries had reopened schools, and some — like Taiwan, Sweden, and Nicaragua — never closed in the first place. Can we look for a blueprint in those examples for questions like: “How likely are children to catch and transmit the virus?” “Should my kids be able to play at recess?” and “Should kids wear masks?”
Science Magazine talked to infectious disease experts around the world, and looked at school reopening strategies in nations as varied as South Africa, Finland, and Isreal. From that, there are some patterns from which schools here can learn.
The 21st talks to an education reporter and two individuals from Science Magazine on looking to other countries as a blueprint to go back to school.
Guests:
Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, Staff writer at Science Magazine.
Gretchen Vogel, Contributing correspondent for Science Magazine based in Berlin, Germany.
Peter Medlin, Education reporter for WNIJ and Host of the Teacher's Lounge Podcast in DeKalb.
Prepared for web by Zainab Qureshi
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