20% to 30% of students want to go back to school, says the SP government; teachers mobilize against

Teachers and directors of public schools are mobilizing against the opening of the units and are already sending communications to regional education leaders about the impossibility of returning to face-to-face activities in September. The forecast is that public schools will reopen as of next Tuesday in the cities of São Paulo that authorized the return, but even in these localities, the pressure from teachers and administrators is that the schools remain closed with the argument that an opening may increase coronavirus contamination. This Friday, the Justice denied a precautionary measure from the teachers’ union asking for the reopening of the suspension of schools.

The State Department of Education says that the cases of schools that refuse to reopen are specific and that 128 municipalities have already signaled permission to open state schools, half of them through decrees. According to the portfolio, preliminary results of a survey being conducted with the students’ parents indicated that between 20% and 30% of students intend to return to school this month for face-to-face activities; final data should only come out next. week.

In relation to teachers, Seduc also prepared a questionnaire in which it asks if they intend to participate in face-to-face activities in September, this refund will be optional for teachers at that first moment, according to the folder. Seduc did not say what percentage of teachers expressed interest. Groups of teachers have mobilized to answer this question in the negative, guidance that also comes from the São Paulo State Official Education Teachers Union (Apeoesp).

Public and private schools across the state have been closed since March to contain the spread of the coronavirus. In August, the state government endorsed that municipalities for more than 28 days in the yellow phase of the state’s economic reopening plan authorized schools to operate from the day September 8th for activities such as school reinforcement.

The city of São Paulo did not authorize the opening of schools on September 8. This Friday, Campinas It also determined that classes remain suspended until at least September 15. Municipalities like Sorocaba, Itu and Itapevi published decrees authorizing the return of public schools.

This week, a resolution published by Seduc guided this month’s comeback, recommending prioritizing students without Internet access, with emotional disorders, who are in the process of literacy or in the last years of elementary school.

For Bebel Noronha, President of Apeoesp, back to school in the state “will not pass.” He criticizes the opening amid still high numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths, saying the decision to reopen is being outsourced to teachers. As for the additional fee that can be paid to teachers who complete the workload for reinforcement activities, Bebel says this is a way to “coerce an already impoverished category.”

“If there is demand it is for one or two students. Which is a waste of effort, when it is necessary to direct it to prepare the school, with reforms, because they do not have architectural conditions. I think it is irresponsible ”, says the president of Apeoesp. The entity filed a lawsuit against the reopening of schools in September, but the injunction was denied.

The Union of Education Specialists of the Official Teaching of the State of São Paulo (Udemo) encourages the directors of school units to send a letter to the regional director of education, linked to Seduc, indicating that there will be no conditions to resume face-to-face activities day 8. because the school will not be able to comply with what determines the resolution of the portfolio itself. One of the rules is that educational institutions adopt health guidelines for the return.

Second Poly BoyPresident of Udemo, this is not about civil disobedience, but about following the rules. “There are a series of measures that the school cannot comply with in any way. It is impossible to comply with the resolution itself, which says that if there is no way to follow it, you cannot return to face-to-face activities.” He cites the need for constant cleaning of spaces and even isolation of children with symptoms.

And it also criticizes the possibility that teachers of certain grades attend students of other classes if the specific teacher for that public cannot or does not want to go to school, an arrangement provided for in the resolution of the Secretariat. “Can you imagine putting a literacy teacher to work with a 3rd year high school student? It’s one improvisation after another,” he says.

Seduc Sub-Secretary for Regional Coordination, Henrique Pimentel explains that the return will occur in schools that identify the demand of parents. And, if there are no teachers interested in returning in September, activities can be arranged with the school’s management team. “But I have not had a case of schools where no teacher wants to return,” said Pimentel.

“In PiracicabaIn which a school has 60% of teachers in the risk group, the management team will organize the optional activities. In another, in the same region, students will return to tend the garden of a project of the (discipline) elective and does not need the elective teacher to follow necessarily, but needs the director there, ”he exemplifies.

It is also planned to supplement the teachers’ hours for the tutoring classes. “We need to attend to the students and, for that, we will need the contingent of teachers who carry out this type of work, the student who cannot follow the class remotely cannot be discriminated against. The way to do it is to assign more classes to some teachers and provide opportunities for those who want to go to work. “

Seduc also assesses what the demand for teachers will be for these activities and what expenditures will go towards supplementing the workload and hiring substitutes. Regarding infrastructure, it ensures that equipment is delivered to schools that must reopen.

The questionnaires ask parents and teachers to take responsibility

The entities also criticize the questionnaires sent to teachers and parents so that they are responsible in case of contamination by covid-19. The documents ask parents and teachers to demonstrate awareness that there is a possibility of contamination because “the virus circulates throughout the world and not just in school.” The questionnaires were reportedly sent by public schools.

Seduc denies having sent such documents. “Some communications that came out are in disagreement with the guidelines of the Secretariat and we are asking educational leaders to remove them from circulation,” says Henrique Pimentel. He explains that, officially, only two surveys are being carried out: one for parents to indicate if they want to return in September or October and another for teachers.