This petition is by no means intended to offend the community, students, government, and the Ministry of Education. We respect the effort that everyone has put in to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We would just like to show our thoughts and opinions on going back to school and what that could mean to us and the community.

During the COVID-19 briefing on the 20/10/2021 at 1:00 pm, Education and COVID-19 response Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed that years 11-13 students living in alert level 3 areas will be able to return to schools on 26/10/2021.

Since the move to alert level 4 lockdown on 17/08/2021, students in the Auckland region have not been able to have in-person education and the whole New Zealand whanau have gone through a process of alert level changes in order to make an effort to manage and contain the “Delta” variant of COVID-19. This has put a large amount of stress and changes in our lifestyle which has affected our well-being. Through the COVID-19 briefing on 20/10/2021, we have been notified that we will be returning to school and we have a few concerns about this change. We have gathered our opinions and we would hope that you will read the following.

1. The COVID-19 virus is spreading violently in the community, on 19/10/2021, there were 94 new community cases which was the highest amount of COVID-19 cases per day in New Zealand history. There are multiple locations of interest such as the popular Browns Bay beach playground and Browns Bay Countdown. COVID-19 is a virus that is violent but is able to be contained with effort. We can see this in our battle in March of 2020. Covid-19 cases have significantly decreased over the period of lockdown and students not going to school. Even though the “Delta” variant of COVID-19 is more violent and hard to contain than its predecessor, we have been able to somewhat control the spread during alert levels 3 and 4. If students were to return to school, controlling the spread will be much harder and dangerous, as the school would be highly populated and even though students have to wear face masks, the virus can still be caught through the eyes and other parts; there is still a possibility of the virus spreading.
2. Even though New Zealand has a relatively high vaccination rate, there are still families that have elder and underaged children that are unable to be vaccinated. This brings risks to students returning to school as there is a possibility that students and staff are exposed to COVID-19 in the populated school environment. Students can then bring the virus back to their families and risk the lives of other people and vulnerable groups in the country (e.g. underaged children, elders, people that are unable to be vaccinated, and the immunocompromised).
3. By going back to school under alert level 3, students and families could become more disadvantaged as students have already gone through 8 weeks of online learning. Students have already been preparing and getting used to an online learning environment. If students were to return to school, they may have higher levels of stress.

We propose that years 11-13 students in alert level 3 do not return to school and instead, we wait for further COVID-19 situations and then decide whether it is safe for us to return to school. This increases the safety of the students, families, and the community. We think that currently, this is not the time for us to return to school. 

This pandemic requires effort across the entire global society to control. Here in New Zealand, we are a team of 5 million people and this isn’t the time to stop fighting the virus yet. We are extremely thankful for those of you that have spent your time and effort reading all of the above and we would hope that you will sign this petition and share it with others to increase the awareness of this situation.