Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world, the life has been at a standstill. No matter how much we fool ourselves, it has not been the same. With Victorian schools closed, one cannot help but feel for our young ones who have lost an important – yes the whole 2020 – year of their lives feigning to live, but making somehow do with what they have been told in stages.
Learning, as we all know is not just from books and teachers’ instructions these days and it is much more when it comes to their social interaction with peers and friends and that is where the most loss has been.
Good news is – the nightmare is coming to an end. The state government has announced that Victorian schools should be back to normal – face to face teaching for all – from October 26, subject of course to ever changing health advice.
The state Education minister James Merlino announced on his Facebook page:
Terrific news! We have a timeline for the return of ALL students to the classroom – providing certainty and a light at the end of the tunnel for what has been an extraordinary and difficult year.
I was very pleased to announce that Year 7 students in metropolitan Melbourne will resume face-to-face learning from Monday 12 October, joining primary school, VCE and VCAL, and specialist school students. Year 7 is such an important milestone year as students start their secondary schooling journey – it’s great to have them back at school next week!
Students in Years 8 to 10, around 164,000 students, will return from Monday 26 October.
This staggered return is consistent with our approach throughout the pandemic and is based on the advice of the Victorian Chief Health Officer. The public health imperative is about managing increased movement across the community as restrictions ease.
And Daniel Andrews, the Premier of Victoria was on Twitter as well, just to make doubly sure everyone gets the news:
Good news. pic.twitter.com/PFOOSWevNU
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) October 5, 2020
Finally, our children will be able to feel normal, learning, interacting with peers and friends and coming home to tell stories – which as parents, we have been missing as glued to their laptops all day, they have not had to share in the evening.
Come October 26, things will change for us all!