Cyprus Mail
Letters

Citizen vs consumer: a coronavirus dilemma

The Coronavirus Disease (covid 19) Outbreak In Hamburg

Yesterday, like many of us, I was waiting for the announcement regarding the lifting of measures in Cyprus. Scrolling through the news and the updates, I finally came to realise that the secondary schools (public and private, except for the final year) will remain closed. Malls, betting shops, barber shops, hairdressers’, the last year of secondary and technical schools and all years of primary will open. But not all years of secondary schools. The 10- to 15-year-olds remain home, sacrificed.

We are privileged because the school my son attends is private and he can attend his classes via Zoom. He is disciplined enough to study and not cheat in his weekly evaluations. So why am I complaining? Because: 1) online schooling is not education, just maintenance; 2) I am thinking about families with children in public schools who cannot afford a computer and so cannot attend online lessons. As a society, do we still care about public schools and families with minimum to average income? I do.

Therefore, when I read that we must behave “responsibly”, something does not add up to me. The measures seem to be designed for consumers rather than responsible citizens.

Can someone explain to me the rationale behind singling out the specific age group? Other children are just as likely to catch coronavirus from a family member who went to the mall and then come to school and infect others as 10- to 15-year-olds. Why should they stay home?

What is more important, having your hair and nails done or educating children? Is access to betting, in the hope that you’ll win money to buy something you don’t need to impress people who don’t care, more important than children’s education? Is going to the mall to spend money more important than educating children and being able to take them out into nature to teach them about things other than objects and shopping?

Is going to primary school and the last year of secondary and technical schools safer than the rest of secondary school? Is going to the mall and breathing in a closed space with many other people safer than playing tennis with five metres’ distance between you and the other player?

Obviously, consumerism and facilitating it is the priority. It is a right and a choice I respect, but in return I would like my right and my choice not to be patronised or preached to about “responsibility” to be respected, because responsibility is a duty to be expected of citizens, not consumers.

Véronique Ruggirello

 

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