Several parents in Australia have started an online petition as classes in some parts of Australia resume on Monday after easing coronavirus restrictions.
According to The Daily Mail, only four new cases were reported in the country, pushing the governments of Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) to further ease restrictions.
The online petition demands the NSW Department of Education give parents a choice whether to send their children back to school. This comes after the education department issued an order for the May 25 reopening of face-to-face classes on Friday.
Children return to campus for the first day of New South Wales public schools fully re-opening for all students and staff amidst the easing of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions at Homebush West Public School in Sydney, Australia, May 25, 2020.
Ash Parmar from Toongabbie has started a Change.org petition, which has now gained over 7,500 signatures. The petition questions the department's decision to reopen classes which may be due to political or economic pressures, or both.
Parmar also seeks for the department's advice on how parents would explain to their children the guidelines specified in the memo. These include social distancing rules, proper hygiene, coughing etiquette, and even avoiding sharing foods.
While schools received hygiene and cleaning supplies, the petition raised questions on the youth's safety as there is still "so much not known about this virus and it's (side-effects) on children."
Australian parent starts online petition against reopening classes after COVID-19 restrictions are eased; We don't want our children to be guinea pigs
Classes in NSW and Queensland will resume on Monday, May 25, as well as Years 3, 4, and 10 in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) while Years 5, 6, 8, and 9 will reopen on June 2. Similarly, kindergarten to Year Six as well as Year 11 and 12 in Tasmania will reopen on Monday, while Years 7 to 10 will resume their classes on June 9.
Students in Prep to Year 2, 11, and 12 will go back to school on Tuesday, May 26, while the rest will return on June 9. However, parents across the country have called on the education department to give them a choice on whether to send their children to school. Parmar said he would not allow his two children to go back to school.
"Just to open up schools for political mileage or different pressures other than health, I don't think that I want to make my kids guinea pigs to that kind of behavior from the government," Parmar told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Similarly, mother-of-two Caroline said she would also not send her children to school for a few weeks more."I just feel we're going from zero to 100 very quickly, rather the gradual one day a week, then two or three days a week, that was promised," the Sydney resident said.
Mike Woodcock from West Pennant Hills, on the other hand, would send his two children back to school through gritted teeth. Meanwhile, making such a decision makes mother Sonya feel "extraordinarily stressed" as his elder son has Crohn's disease.
Last week, NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell warned that children will be marked absent if they do not show up in school. "Rolls will be marked as per normal and unexplained absences will be followed up," said Mitchell adding that children should be at school unless they are sick.
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