KUWAIT: Despite health warnings and calls to follow health precautions during burials and funerals, many still neglect such warnings, a local daily pointed out yesterday. Daily images of funerals at Sulaibikhat cemetery have been proving endless disregard to precautionary measures, as large crowds of people attend funerals without respecting social distancing and mostly without wearing facemasks, Al-Rai Arabic newspaper wrote in a report published yesterday.

"The most dangerous practice is the traditional method of greeting by touching noses while paying condolences, which might be the easiest and fastest way of catching and spreading COVID-19 infections amongst attendees and possibly their families as well," the report reads.

In this regard, the manager of the funerals department at Kuwait Municipality Faisal Al-Awadhi stressed that funeral halls are still closed at various cemeteries and are only open for waiting purposes after removing all seats from them. Awadhi added that cemeteries are open for visits and burials with unlimited numbers. "Some people only receive condolences during the burial," he underlined.

Meanwhile, health sources warned of gatherings during all forms of social occasions including funerals and stressed that all social or family gatherings are still banned. "Resuming such gatherings is part of the activities included in the fifth phase of resumption of normal life activities, so they are still banned and relevant authorities should accordingly deal with them," the sources underlined.

They noted that the health ministry only provides guidance and health precautions, while imposing them is the responsibility of various ministries and government bodies. "The number of people recently hospitalized with COVID-19 is increasing because of such gatherings, during which people do not follow preventive measures," the sources argued.

Back to school
In other news, a number of female teachers have reportedly voiced their objection to going to schools as the start of the school year approaches, in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 infections and alleged lack of compliance with precautionary measures. "Situations are not safe in schools. We experience daily stress and worry that our schools are not being regularly sanitized, and we are afraid of taking the infection to elderly folks back at our homes," the teachers told Al-Rai.

The teachers also stressed that they are using their personal laptops and Internet connections. "Why go to school then?" they wondered, noting that school wi-fi signals are very weak, which is not the case at their homes. "We hope teachers can be given the freedom to choose whether to go to school or work from home," they said.

One of the teachers added that university professors already work online from home. "Why not do the same with school teachers," she said, calling for an immediate decision giving teachers the option to work either from home or from schools, especially since some school administrations are secretive about the true number of infections detected. "With the start of the second session exams, teachers will have to attend and mark the exam papers. What if we get infected from touching the exam papers," asked another teacher.

Meanwhile, an educational report showed the constant and exceptional progress in IT has created greater challenges for educational institutions and teaching staff members, who seem to be far behind learners in terms of using modern technology and smartphones. "Teaching staff members are in real danger now and education officials need to work on bridging the gap between their digital skills and those of learners," the sources said. The 2020/2021 school year starts October 4, and while students will attend online classes at home, teachers will reportedly be asked to report to public schools to deliver online classes.