Index – National – Total chaos in schools: no uniform epidemiological protocol

Although several months passed between the first and second waves of the coronavirus epidemic, the government failed to come up with a unified system for education actors to start school in September. This appears to stem from published protocols, which are contingent and severely incomplete, according to the Democratic Union of Teachers (PDSZ). The union believes that those who work in public education today must work in dangerous conditions because they are not provided with the conditions for healthy and safe work. In contrast, the government now expects schools to develop local epidemiological protocols.

According to the PDSZ, if an infected student is found in a public educational institution, neither teachers nor students should be tested. in such cases, parents or teachers have the opportunity to consult a GP, who can order tests or, in the case of asymptomatic treatment, provide proof of voluntary quarantine. If someone is suspected of being infected, they will be quarantined immediately, but their tests will not start automatically.

even if the virus appears in the institution. Extraordinary breaks can only be ordered by the Office of Education, while the introduction of a digital work schedule outside of class can be decided by the Operational Staff on the basis of a proposal from the Minister responsible for Education. Our question about what infection data the authorities use to make a decision on this has not been answered.

Of particular interest is that vocational schools are subject to a different protocol: these institutions belong to the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, which has allowed the school directors to decide for themselves whether to close their institution.

Although the government’s goal was to prevent school closings, the measures put in place will do the opposite: Massive infections could soon be expected due to lack of evidence, eventually leading to school closings, the union says.

The PDSZ believes that the government measures do not support the much vaunted goals because they do not seek:

• infections are detected as early as possible and those infected are isolated, thus protecting kindergarten and student communities and those working at the institution from mass infection,
• and have as few as possible inside a building to eliminate the confusion of student groups, the tumult.

According to the union, if the government were to take these goals seriously, it would mandate a digital curriculum for upper secondary and high school students, while the lower ones would be more ventilated in half-empty institutions.