By Vivian Wang and Makiko Inoue
HONG KONG: The
coronavirus epidemic reached deeper into daily life across the world Wednesday, with a sweeping shutdown of all schools in Italy and warnings of school closings in the United States, intensifying the educational upheaval of nearly 300 million students globally.
Only a few weeks ago, China, where the outbreak began, was the only country to suspend classes. But the
virus has spread so quickly that by Wednesday, 22 countries on three continents had announced school closings of varying degrees, leading the United Nations to warn that “the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled.”
Students are now out of school in South Korea, Iran, Japan, France, Pakistan and elsewhere — some for only a few days, others for weeks on end. In Italy, suffering one of the deadliest outbreaks outside China, officials said Wednesday that they would extend school closings beyond the north, where the government has imposed a lockdown on several towns, to the entire nation. All schools and universities will remain closed until March 15, officials said.
On the West Coast of the United States, the region with the most American infections so far, Los Angeles declared a state of emergency Wednesday, advising parents to steel themselves for school closings in the nation’s second-largest public school district. Washington state, which has reported at least 10 deaths from the outbreak, has closed some schools, while on the other side of the country in New York, newly diagnosed cases have led to the closing of several schools as well.
The speed and scale of the educational tumult — which now affects 290.5 million students worldwide, the United Nations says — has little parallel in modern history, educators and economists contend. Schools provide structure and support for families, communities and entire economies. The effect of closing them for days, weeks and sometimes even months could have untold repercussions for children and societies at large.
“They’re always saying, ‘When can we go out to play? When can we go to school?’ ” said Gao Mengxian, a security guard in Hong Kong whose two daughters have been stuck at home because school has been suspended since January.
In some countries, older students have missed crucial study sessions for college admissions exams, while younger ones have risked falling behind in reading and math. Parents have lost wages, tried to work at home or scrambled to find child care. Some have moved children to new schools in areas unaffected by the coronavirus and lost milestones like graduation ceremonies or last days of school.
“I don’t have data to offer, but can’t think of any instances in modern times where advanced economies shut down schools nationally for prolonged periods of time,” said Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
But the burdens are widespread, touching corners of society seemingly unconnected to education. In Japan, schools have canceled bulk food delivery orders for lunches they will no longer serve, affecting farmers and suppliers. In Hong Kong, an army of domestic helpers have been left unemployed after wealthy families enrolled their children in schools overseas.
Julia Bossard, a 39-year-old mother of two in France, said she had been forced to rethink her entire routine since her older son’s school was closed for two weeks for disinfection. Her days now consist of helping her children with homework and scouring supermarkets for fast-disappearing pasta, rice and canned food.
“We had to reorganize ourselves,” she said.
Online and Alone
School and government officials are doing their best to keep children learning — and occupied — at home. The Italian government created a webpage to give teachers access to videoconference tools and ready-made lesson plans. Mongolian television stations are airing classes. Iran’s government has made all children’s content free.
Even physical education takes place: At least one school in Hong Kong requires students — in gym uniforms — to follow along as an instructor demonstrates push-ups on screen, with the students’ webcams on for proof.
The offline reality of online learning, though, is challenging. There are technological hurdles, as well as the unavoidable distractions that pop up when children and teenagers are left to their own devices — literally.
Some interruptions are unavoidable. Posts on Chinese social media show teachers and students climbing onto rooftops or hovering outside neighbors’ homes in search of a stronger signal. One family in Inner Mongolia packed up its yurt and migrated elsewhere in the grasslands for better internet, a Chinese magazine reported.
The closings have also altered the normal milestones of education. In Japan, the school year typically ends in March. Many schools are now restricting the ceremonies to teachers and students only.
When Satoko Morita’s son graduated from high school in Akita prefecture, in northern Japan, on March 1, she was not there. It will be the same for her daughter’s ceremony at elementary school.
“My daughter asked me, ‘What’s the point of attending and delivering speeches in the ceremony without parents?’” she said.
For Chloe Lau, a Hong Kong student, the end of her high school education came to an abrupt halt because of the closings. Her last day was supposed to be on April 2, but schools in Hong Kong will not resume until at least April 20.
A Burden on Women
With the closings, families are having to rethink how they support themselves and split household responsibilities. The burden has fallen particularly hard on women, who across the world are still largely responsible for child care.
Babysitters are in short supply or leery of taking children from hard-hit regions.
For mothers with few safety nets, the options are even more limited.
In Athens, Greece, Anastasia Moschos said she had been lucky. After her 6-year-old son’s school was closed for a week for disinfection, Moschos, 47, an insurance broker, was able to leave her son with her father, who was visiting, while she went to work. But if the schools stay closed for longer, she may have to scramble to find help.
“We’re a community where there is usually a grandfather or a grandmother that can look after a child. The assumption is that everyone has someone to assist,” she said. “That’s not the case with me. I’m a single mother, and I don’t have help at home.”
Beyond the Classroom
The epidemic has shaken entire industries and businesses that rely on the rituals of students going to school and parents going to work.
School administrators in Japan, caught off guard by the abrupt decision to close schools, have rushed to cancel orders for cafeteria lunches, stranding food suppliers with piles of unwanted groceries and temporarily unneeded employees.
Kazuo Tanaka, deputy director of the Yachimata School Lunch Center in central Japan, said his center had to cancel ingredients for about 5,000 lunches for 13 schools. It would cost the center about 20 million yen (nearly $200,000) each month that school was out, he said.
“Bakeries are blown,” said Yuzo Kojima, secretary-general at the National School Lunch Association. “Dairy farmers and vegetable farmers will be hit. The workers at the school lunch centers cannot work.”