BAME teachers are growing even more concerned about COVID-19 as schools reopen by June.
BAME teachers fear for their health
In the UK, the numbers related to COVID-19 cases are not favoring the “Black and Minority Ethnic groups.” Around 35 percent of the total COVID-19 cases in the intensive care unit are from the BAME group. With the consideration that only 14 percent of the UK’s population is coming from minority ethnic groups.
As the Ministry of Education announces the reopening of schools on June 1, many question the risks of acquiring the virus at school. BAME teachers, in particular, are hesitant to report for the resumption of classes. The teachers know that as a part of the BAME group, they are more susceptible to the virus, as the same goes for the students that belong to the group.
The National Associaton of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), calls upon Prime Minister Boris Johnson to reconsider allowing the reopening of schools on June 1. The teachers union asks the government to look into the situation of BAME teachers and students as they are more prone to contamination of the virus based on recent medical data.
BAME communities
In cities where BAME communities are dominant, parents are hesitant to send their children to school in fear of the higher transmission and mortality rate from the virus to minority ethnic groups.
The NASUWT is urging the government to look into the relevance of ethnicity in the transmission of the coronavirus and apply the needed guidelines in communities where these ethnicity groups are found to be dominant.
Also, the teachers union is calling upon school administrators to be alert and protective to their BAME teachers and students, which can be a target for discrimination given the circumstances they are in during this pandemic. There have been cases of abuse and discrimination against the BAME community even before the pandemic happened and is expected to heighten, given their low resistance to the virus.
