Sir, – With schools closed and learning occurring online of late, it is understandable to see articles seeking a return, physically, to school.
Week by week, there are growing lists of how the children are suffering socially, emotionally, educationally; they aren’t playing sports; access to counselling and other services that often depend on school feedback are halted; the list goes on.
But I can’t help feel that this also smacks of a grave encumberment of the educational system.
Schools were never intended to be one-stop-shops for growing up.
Or at least, if some saw this as so, the flaws of such a policy, of putting all of our eggs in one basket, as it were, is glaringly obvious now.
Our efforts at upbringing needs to be multifaceted and aim to provide young people with access to external services, clubs, teams, social interactions and more good adults, outside of where they go to be educated. – Yours, etc,
CIARAN FISHER
Dundalk,
Co Louth.