The school year is almost over in neighboring Sonora, Mexico. But parents, teachers and students aren’t letting up on calls for schools to reopen after more than a year of virtual classes.
On Thursday morning, the Sonoran arm of the group Abre Mi Escuela, or Open My School, held a protest in Hermosillo demanding a return of in-person classes. Families in cars honked while others marched, chanted and held up signs with messages like “virtual classes aren’t the same,” and “open schools — this is our future.”
Students in Sonora — and across Mexico — have been out of the classroom for 15 months. And with coronavirus cases on the rise again, the few schools allowed to reopen as part of a pilot program have been closed for the rest of the school year.
But protesters say by the time school starts up again in August, they want safe, voluntary options for a return to the classroom.
Sonoran health officials initially had plans to partially reopen about 50 schools before the end of the school year in an effort to prepare for a full reopening in the fall, but cancelled those plans when cases started ticking up. It's unclear now whether students will be able to return to in-person classes in August. Officials have said it will depend on how the state is faring in the pandemic.
