Under international human rights law, the scaling back of the quality of the education provided to children and youth ought to be avoided. It is permitted in only in very limited circumstances.
The government must canvass all other physical locations available to hold in-person instruction to guarantee small class sizes and comply with physical distancing policies if the current infrastructure is lacking.Measures must also be taken so that schools can open safely while respecting the rights of students and teachers to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health. This means that the return-to-school plan must involve efforts to limit community transmission.
It’s not unusual that respecting human rights involves considerable financial expenses and complex logistical hurdles. The right to vote, for example, requires the creation of 20,000 polling stations and the hiring of more than 233,000 people to tend to them. Adults must now make similar large-scale efforts and financial expenditures in order to respect the rights of our children and youth to a quality and safe education in September.This article is republished from