An Open Letter to Gladys Berejiklian- Premier of NSW

Dear Gladys,

We have not met, so here is a brief introduction: my name is Ori. I am a mathematics teacher at a public High School in NSW.

I became a teacher by choice because I passionately believe in education. I have academic degrees in other fields, such as Linguistics and International Relations, but I made education my primary profession, although I also dabble in writing, voluntary and translation work.

We are all facing challenging times Gladys: you, me and the other denizens of this planet. The coronavirus has invaded and disrupted every aspect of our lives; professional, personal, emotional and pecuniary. In some ways, it has been a leveller.

I live in Coogee, in the Eastern suburbs, near the beach, where we are all now entering a new phase of life. Cafes are closing down; the beach is out of bounds; people are called to keep a safe distance from each other. Sea changes, if you excuse the pun.

But this is not what I would like to reflect on or what I am asking you to consider: it is just the background to the dramatic changes we are facing in Australia.

During the last few weeks, in the face of the looming threat of the pandemic reaching all parts of this country, private schools have shut their doors and shifted their teaching to online platforms. During this time, we, who work in the public sector, have sat patiently, waiting for directives, updates and instructions from the NSW department of education.

So far, the message has been to ‘hold on fast’. In short, we were asked to uphold a ‘business-as-usual’ attitude. That is what we have been doing: we have continued to toil with the sweat of our brows and the strength of our spirits. And this, despite the contradictory, conflicting and often inconsistent instructions we get.

However, as time passes and the stark statistics jump at us, it is impossible to reconcile some of these directives, if only because they are impossible to implement. Take, for example, the demand to keep a 1.5 metre distance between people, called social distancing. If you take isometric paper and calculate the minimum space needed to apply this restriction, you would realise that in a class of 30 students there is physically no way to implement such policies.

The directive to keep schools open, while other businesses are closing theirs, is also difficult to reconcile. You see, some of our students use no fewer than three different public transports (usually a permutation of buses and trains) to get to school – as do some of the teachers. Each morning, and with each change of transport, they come in contact with hundreds of people, touching hundreds of surfaces, all of which have the potential to carry the Coronavirus. How are they to protect themselves adequately?

This morning, after tireless quibbling, you announced that NSW schools should remain open while parents are encouraged to keep their children at home. What are we to make of this?

Is our health more robust than our students’?Are we less likely to contract the virus, if we come in contact with it? If anything, our age and the way we operate in the school environment, both indicate that we are in a much higher risk group. So, why is it that we, the teachers, are asked to continue coming to work, while students are staying at home?

An acquaintance of mine, who works as a psychiatrist, writes: It is astounding that teachers are being treated as expendable. Each classroom teacher might come into contact with 100 children per day each of whom has contact with another 100. Then teachers go to the staff room and meetings for some additional compulsory incubation before going home to their families. The excuse of the PM is that children could lose out on education. They certainly will if we lose our teachers.

I strongly recommend you watch this short video clip. I am sure you will find it instructive.

https://youtu.be/qDrYslWJfuU

Teachers have been largely ignored by the press and by this government. However, we stand at the coalface. So perhaps, Gladys, you can speak to me directly and tell me why you think it is fair, or wise or in the public interest to keep schools open.