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“The worst thing about being sick is being banned from school.” A robot helped Elissar communicate with her class from her hospital bed
The Seen & Heard initiative seeks to provide telepresence technology in schools including school robotics, teacher training, and support for sick students
THE MAIN POINTS
- Up to a third of Australian children, or 1.2 million, have chronic health conditions that prevent them from being in school.
- The Seen & Heard initiative seeks to provide telepresence technology in schools including school robotics, teacher training, and support for sick students
- “I used to make the robot walk around the classroom to talk to my friends, then make it stand in the back to listen to the lesson directly from my teacher.”
There is no doubt that education is the right of every child, but up to a third of Australian children, or 1.2 million, suffer from chronic health conditions that prevent them from being in school for varying periods. This situation adds psychological and mental burdens on children and their families during a difficult period of their lives in which they struggle with the disease.
In an effort to find a solution to this health, educational and social dilemma, an initiative entitled Heard & Seen was launched by the MissingSchool Association.
The initiative, which received a grant from the Commonwealth and the TPG Telecom Foundation, will seek to provide telepresence technology in schools including school robots, train teachers, and support sick students and their parents in using this technology. Educational animations will also be produced for peers and siblings of sick children.
One of the families that benefited from this initiative is the Tabbaa family, whose daughter, Al-Yassar, was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia. Al-Yassar spent the first 11 years of her life dealing with bouts of severe pain that caused her to be hospitalized multiple times and put her at risk of stroke.
Mrs. Najah, Al-Yassar’s mother, says that her child’s treating team introduced them to the work of Missing School when she was in the sixth grade, and a telepresence robot was organized to “remotely transport” her to be with her classmates within a month of the bone marrow transplant.
Najah said, “Al-Yassar was worried about her absence from school and feared that her friends would forget her.” Najah added, “We were lucky with this program that brought Al-Yassar to class from her hospital bed.”
As for Elissar, who is currently studying in the tenth grade, she describes the moment she obtained the robot, saying, “I used to make it walk around the classroom to talk to my friends, then make it stand in the back to listen to the lesson directly from my teacher.”
Missing School founder Megan Gilmore says: “Schools have an obligation to ensure that children who cannot attend regularly connect with their curricula and peers and are provided with support from school, home or hospital.” She added that without additional resources to do this, schools are struggling to provide educational services beyond the school gate to tens of thousands of isolated children across Australia every day.
The initiative launched an advertising campaign entitled: Don’t Forget Me. This announcement serves as a rallying cry to promote awareness of the urgent need to help children who are absent in a health crisis to engage in school, and stay in touch with their teachers and classmates.
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