It is no news that the world has been almost on a standstill since the COVID-19 virus surfaced. It has crippled flourishing economics, closed gates of schools, hindered transportation, and birthed series of new social laws and regulations. The virus has caught the world unaware and has left its mark literally on everything. While scientists and researchers are working tirelessly to give the world a vaccine, every country is easing its lockdown rules and preparing to open up its schools among other things. To reduce the spread of the virus and not putting the lives of students in jeopardy in the name of learning, there are certain essential items every school must have as resumption draws inevitably nearer each day.

1. Personal Protection (e.g. Nose masks, Face covers, etc.): This is one of the essential items every school must have in place to facilitate “healthy” learning. It is only through personal protection kits for each student that the spread of this virus could be contained in schools due to the high interaction and population that exists in schools every day. It is just suicide reopening schools without PPE.
2. Cleaning and disinfecting kits: There is no time that schools need to be thoroughly and constantly cleaned and disinfected than now. The COVID-19 virus has been reported capable of surviving a few hours in the air or on a surface, which deemed it fit for constant disinfection and cleaning. If schools must open, there should be standby cleaning and disinfecting equipment, at every entrance and exit.
3. Partitions and dividers: Social distancing is one of the social rules prescribed by health experts to help reduce the virus from spreading fast. As much as social distancing could be practiced in offices without much supervision, schools need more than just a memo or a speech to make it work around students. There must be partitions and dividers to force the 2metres mark needed between students in a gathering, class, or in the dining hall.
4. Public address system: Every school needs a public address system to pass information and enhance teaching at this time. There will be long queues around the school, fewer students in very large auditoriums, and other intricacies of social distancing around the school which would make the dissemination of information tedious without public address system, or even impossible. It is also a must-have for every school as it prepares for resumption.

Now is the time that we need to protect ourselves and support the health workers by preventing the continuous spread of this deadly virus at all means. Now is the time that every hand must be on deck and work collectively to overcome the Coronavirus. Now is the time that we wear nose masks, keep social distancing, and good personal hygiene. The time is now!