School closures due to swine flu could have been avoided if programs were online

The swine flu outbreak has dominated headline news in the past week. On April 24th, Associated Press reported that Mexico had closed schools, museums, libraries and theaters in the capital as an effort to contain the outbreak. The school closures kept 6.1 million students at home, as well as thousands of university students. The story also referenced the March 2008 incident when Hong Kong ordered more than 500,000 students to stay home for two weeks because of a flu outbreak.

Schools with an online infrastructure have an advantage in times of crisis. Students can continue to learn from the safety and comfort of their home and their education does not have to come to a screeching halt.

There are many school districts throughout the U.S. that are adding an online component within the K-12 system. Obviously at the college and university levels, there are many participants in the online realm. It’s more important now than ever before to have accredited, online education programs become a standard, rather than an option, at every level of education.