Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
NOBODY likes being ill, so last week when I was diagnosed with pleurisy, I was rather surprised and a little annoyed because I was forced to take some time off work which I hate doing even more than being ill.
It got me thinking though and reminded me that when somebody takes a day off sick, it impacts on everyone around them in the working environment almost immediately. The head teacher or deputy has to come up with an immediate plan to cover lessons and ensure that work is completed and children’s progress isn’t compromised.
In the UK very often a supply teacher will be hired to cover things but that isn’t so easy in Bahrain and so often teachers on free periods have to be drafted in to substitute. Other teachers in the school will have to reschedule their day to embark on substituting and have to put marking and planning to one side.
This means that personal projects, effective teaching and good assessment are compromised in not just one class, but many. The ones who suffer the most, however, from staff absence are, of course, the children who are invariably going to lose a whole day or two of quality learning from their teacher who knows all of their strengths and weaknesses and knows exactly where they are in their learning.
We all get ill, it’s never pretty, but there are different levels of illness and I always encourage staff to seriously think before they commit to taking a day off from school.
Very often, puddling through whilst rattling with painkillers is the right thing to do for the good of the school and the children, but obviously this isn’t always possible and coming into school when ill can put the health of all concerned at risk by spreading the infection.
That said, I urge teachers to think about colleagues and children before taking time off as the impact on them can be enormous. But it’s a balancing act. Children by their very nature are dirty things and the younger they are, generally the more dirty they seem to get.
This, however, means that they very often carry with them a variety of germs and creepy crawlies that can cause epidemics in schools very quickly if parents aren’t careful enough with hygiene and don’t stop to think of other people.
This can be demonstrated through a very recent experience I had when examinations were taking place at my school and a parent brought their child into school when they very obviously suffering from a high fever.
I stumbled across the parent and asked why they were waiting outside the building and was told that their child was completing an exam but they would be taking them
home immediately after because they were sick.
I reminded the parent of school policy in such matters but the damage had already been done and the child had undoubtedly spread their germs amongst the pupils and teachers alike. I wasn’t wrong.
The following day the teacher called in sick and the class was only three quarters full as many children had caught the virus and were now suffering the consequences.
The advice I would also like to offer parents at this time of year when the weather changes and colds and chills are in the air is to act responsibly if your child becomes ill and keep them off school until they are better.
It might be inconvenient but it will have a much smaller impact on the running of the school and the health of others if you do.
