Kids will be safer in "Sandbox Schools" - pilot project set to start nationwide next week

[webfact]

 

A joint collaboration on a pilot project to get some schoolchildren in red and deep red provinces back to school will start next Monday, August 16th.

 

It is called the Sandbox Safety Zone in Schools or more simply Sandbox Schools.

 

Dr Sarawut Bunsuk, deputy chief of the department of health, noted that standards and efficacy of learning in schools at the moment has suffered and that the immediate future remains uncertain. 

 

With many teachers already vaccinated they decided to initiate the project with the education ministry and 100 normal and international schools have shown an interest nationwide in starting as Sandbox Schools.

 

Under the plan there will be a bubble and seal approach, strict limits on who can go in and out of school campuses, and tests using Antigen Test Kits of students, teachers and other school staff every two or four weeks. 

 

Children aged 12 plus with underlying health conditions will be vaccinated using mRNA vax if doctors deem them able to have it. 

 

Dr Sarawut said that the 20,000 a day cases being experienced at the moment in Thailand were a worry but he added:

 

"Children will be safer in Sandbox Schools than they would be at home".

 

The plan is set to start at normal  schools in phase one next week with phase two starting after August drawing on the experiences in the pilot, reported PPTV36 yesterday.

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2021-08-10

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[ThailandRyan]

Bubble and seal.  They will have cots for sleeping?, full canteen?. So boarding school basically.

[sapson]

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Children will be safer in Sandbox Schools than they would be at home".

How can being in a school with two or three thousand other kids possibly be safer than at home with a handful of family members.

 

Are all teachers going to be given a couple of Pfizers shot to protect them from the exposure and for westerners insurance cover from their employers to fully cover against covid.

[BangkokReady]

So seal everyone into the school?  People will come and go, this is Thailand, rules/laws are rarely followed.  This will fail as soon as there is a case.  Teachers don't want to be sealed in their school and parents won't want their kids away from them during a covid outbreak.  It doesn't sound safe at all.

 

This will be a super-spreader event.  Wait until everyone is vaccinated, then students can return to school.  Vaccination doesn't stop spread, so you need all the students' families to be vaccinated.

[ikke1959]

funny... where do the mRna vaccines come from??? and when??? And how about the teachers with Sinovac ?? It declines in 6 months.. Testing every 2 weeks to 1 month? who will pay for it?  

[RotBenz8888]

What I gather, this sandbox school basically means vaccinated teachers, antigen tests every 2-4w anf mRNA Vaccine to kids above 12.

Where does it say kids are going to sleep in the school? 

[ChipButty]

Do the kids want to go back? 

[Gottfrid]

8 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

What I gather, this sandbox school basically means vaccinated teachers, antigen tests every 2-4w anf mRNA Vaccine to kids above 12.

Where does it say kids are going to sleep in the school? 

According to that they say it will be a safer environment for the children one would assume so. Otherwise they would be home anyway and the whole concept would fall on that.

[Gottfrid]

7 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Do the kids want to go back? 

It doesn´t matter what they want, what the schools want or what the health department/ministry wants. I do not want to trust them with my children, and that´s the decision that counts. The reason I wont trust them with my children, is that the whole Thai society has a documented track record of difficulties of dealing with routines as well as doing the same things over and over again.

[ThailandRyan]

34 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

What I gather, this sandbox school basically means vaccinated teachers, antigen tests every 2-4w anf mRNA Vaccine to kids above 12.

Where does it say kids are going to sleep in the school? 

It was sarcasm, how do you keep them from spreading a virus if their community itself is not isolated and they catch it from dad or mom who got it from work etc...you would have to bubble and seal the entire community etc....not possible in the Metropolitan Bangkok Area.

Edited August 10, 2021 by ThailandRyan

[edwinchester]

"....and tests using Antigen Test Kits of students, teachers and other school staff every two or four weeks."

 

Absolutely pathetic, my daughter's kids were getting tested twice a week in the UK as part of safeguarding the school kids.

[RotBenz8888]

25 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

It was sarcasm, how do you keep them from spreading a virus if their community itself is not isolated and they catch it from dad or mom who got it from work etc...you would have to bubble and seal the entire community etc....not possible in the Metropolitan Bangkok Area.

Yet another idea they haven't thought through... doomed to fail.

[RotBenz8888]

57 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

According to that they say it will be a safer environment for the children one would assume so. Otherwise they would be home anyway and the whole concept would fall on that.

Neither way will work.

[ChipButty]

After reading all the comments I'd say Sack that Idea

[Gottfrid]

5 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Neither way will work.

Right!

[Kadilo]

Good incentive. 
 

Any step forward to returning the children back to education is a positive one. 

[JonnyF]

Sounds like they've just added the word "Sandbox" for effect.

 

The teachers have been vaccinated and they will test the kids. But there is no sandbox (unless the kids, teachers and other staff are all going to be sealed in the school for long periods).

[ThailandRyan]

As any idea they have they like to just throw it at a wall and see if it sticks before deciding to move on without saying anything more about it and coming up with a new plan.  Makes me wonder if anyone kept a running total on the tourism proposed schemes they came up with so far to date since the Closure due to Covid.

[internationalism]

it can work at boarding schools (if there are any in thailand), if they manege to keep pupils from one class separate from the others.

Or tutoring at some resort in the countryside - a small group of pupils with one teacher for a month or two working for exams.

Both options for rich kids.

The super rich kids are studying in the UK and taking pfizer allocated to foreigners in thailand

[Emdog]

"Children aged 12 plus with underlying health conditions will be vaccinated using mRNA vax if doctors deem them able to have it."

Clever way to peel off more Pfizer jabs for well to do kids at international schools.

[d2b2]

Another sandbox turned into litter box

[Boedog]

Kids 12 and up with underlying health conditions will be vaccinated first, What is wrong with these Governments around the world wanting to give this experimental vaccine to kids, beyond ridiculous 

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Under the plan there will be a bubble and seal approach, strict limits on who can go in and out of school campuses, and tests using Antigen Test Kits of students, teachers and other school staff every two or four weeks.

So far anything to do with a "sandbox scheme or "bubble & seal scheme" has failed... 

I guess they'll keep trying until it works, instead of trying a better approach.

[nowhereman]

53 minutes ago, Emdog said:

"Children aged 12 plus with underlying health conditions will be vaccinated using mRNA vax if doctors deem them able to have it."

Clever way to peel off more Pfizer jabs for well to do kids at international schools.

One of the Underlying health conditions with Covid is Obesity. I guess they'll have to vaccinate with Pfizer about 80% of the rich kids. 

[brewsterbudgen]

Just hurry up and open up the schools!

[MrJ2U]

Thats not going to work.

Children and teens can catch the Delta variant.

 

As much as I want school to start I'm not going to risk my daughter getting COVID-19.

[rgrdns]

6 hours ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Yet another idea they haven't thought through... doomed to fail.

Thinking hurts...puat hua

[brewsterbudgen]

57 minutes ago, MrJ2U said:

Thats not going to work.

Children and teens can catch the Delta variant.

 

As much as I want school to start I'm not going to risk my daughter getting COVID-19.

There's always going to be some risk but the vast majority of kids are not severely affected. That said, I can totally understand parents who wouldn't want to risk it, especially if they have vulnerable, unvaccinated adults at home. Every parent needs to make their own decision. But at least open the schools (soon) so we all have a choice.

[2009]

Impossible

[djayz]

What's the hurry? It's not like they are actually learning anything useful at school, except maybe how to wai, what a proper haircut should be, having a gazillion uniforms for the week and always pay respect to... 

Their health is more important than that. 

Edited August 10, 2021 by djayz