O ADDRESSING COVID-19 IN THE RETURN TO CLASSROOM IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL NETWORK

FEAR AND ANXIETY BETWEEN STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the coping strategies of Covid-19, in the return to face-to-face classes, in the public school network. This is a qualitative study with a phenomenological focus, supported by the analysis and processing of the content of semi-structured interviews. Six subjects participated in this study (three students and three teachers from different secondary schools), all of them of legal age and residing in the city of Nampula (Northern Mozambique). The interviews were answered in writing, due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. All participants were contacted and informed consent terms were made available in advance. The results of this study lead us to conclude that the closing of schools in the period of the pandemic generated many uncertainties for education. The return to face-to-face classes, at all levels of the Mozambican school system, has brought new challenges, from the organization and adaptation of certain virus prevention measures in schools to the responsibility of users to the new reality. Despite this new possibility of returning to school, fear, excessive anxiety and insecurity about contamination have dominated the coexistence of students and teachers, aggravated by the lack of basic prevention conditions and psychological support services that, in this period of the pandemic, could be useful to serve the entire school community. It is therefore suggested the implementation of psychological support services in schools to address issues related to the pandemic and other mental health risk factors.