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This is what Lucía Azzolina says, in a letter sent to teachers, principals and all school personnel on the eve of the reopening of the school.
“We will always strongly reject insinuations that seek to discredit educational institutions and especially those that work there. Like those that already suppose a hypothetical flight of teachers from the classrooms. Or the narratives that there will be no remedial courses because teachers refuse to take them. Simplistic translations that can damage the system. We show once again that the faculty is healthy. Made up of teachers who believe in it. That they love their work and do it with professionalism and commitment ”.
FULL LETTER (PDF)
To the school directors
to the Directors of general and administrative services
to all the teachers in Italian schools
to all school staff
Rome, August 31, 2020
Dear friends, the school year will formally begin tomorrow. What we are about to experience is a very special beginning: all of you, teachers, administrators, ATA staff, know that we are about to write, together, a new and decisive chapter in the history of our school.
First of all, be proud of the work done so far.
We come from difficult months in which, as a school community, we have had to react to a pandemic that has taken the world by surprise, devastating it. We are faced with an unexpected and truly painful event for those of us who live in contact with students: the suspension of classroom teaching activities. Distance learning, despite the difficulties, has kept the bond with our girls and boys alive.
Together then, in June, we reopened our institutes, for the first time, to take the State Exams for secondary schools. Many had questioned our ability to organize them in the presence, alarming about possible escapes of commissioners and committee chairs. Few have wanted then to count with what spirit of service the whole school has achieved without any criticality a test that will remain in history and in the hearts of the students. Also for this I can only thank you one by one.
Soon the schools will reopen their doors to everyone. First with the learning recovery paths, which will continue throughout the year to guarantee each student the preparation they need, then with the lessons themselves.
We will find ourselves living with safety rules to respect and with greater attention to health aspects. It had never happened before. I know there is concern, it is understandable. The guarantee of the great work done will support us. I say this without any triumphalism, but with satisfaction: data in hand, nobody in Europe has worked so hard in the summer months to prepare the school for this new season.
We will give schools 2.4 million new single-seater desks. A tool to keep children away, for safety, but also an investment in the future: the State has never intervened so strongly in furniture. We have read all about these banks. The debate was surreal at times, let me tell you. But anyone who teaches, runs a school or works there, like you, knows that these teams will be very important to our students, not only for their safety today, but also to offer the possibility of renewing teaching tomorrow.
Already in June, the plan for the September restart was put into effect, drawn up together with the multiple actors of the school and institutional system. We haven’t stopped since.
We have worked with the health authorities to have shared rules. And if they have evolved during the summer, it is because the image of a pandemic is not a photograph, it is not static and, as conditions change, politics can and must make new decisions. We did it. Today we have clear rules, among the strictest in Europe.
We have allocated resources for light construction – I know that in many of your schools right now the interventions are being completed – resources for protection devices, to prepare the logistics that will allow avoiding meetings while protecting everyone’s health, buying digital devices, connectivity, books and educational kits for the underprivileged.
These days, then, the Extraordinary Commissioner is delivering gels and masks to schools. Will provide the entire state.
Despite the emergency, we have digitized and accelerated the hiring procedures, those for assigning substitutes, a novelty that modernizes the system. Soon we will hold contests for 78,000 places that will strengthen our staff, including those in secondary school, which are highly anticipated due to the shortage of teachers.
I would have liked to have done them earlier, you know. But we will do them soon and I believe that once and for all the country should think about a stable hiring model. Our students need certainties, and certainties are built from their teachers. And we will do so starting with support, a true emergency to which, with the Minister of University and Research, we have given a first acceleration by increasing the number of specialization places.
In recent weeks we have seen a flourishing of comments and broad debate about reopening schools. Which in a way is good: the school has never received so much attention in recent years. The country has rediscovered its importance. Families have understood how much effort teachers need in the difficult task of educating and training their children. However, the debate has too often squashed the school issue on the health side, forgetting the true goal of the reopening: the educational needs of our students, which we have all dedicated ourselves to as school personnel.
And around this new focus on the school system, narratives have emerged often simplified, sometimes alarmist, almost always unfair to school personnel.
In the last few months you have worked a lot: you have put your heart and your soul into it.
Despite what some say, you never stopped, on the contrary, you began to run even faster, to ensure didactic continuity and not lose contact with your students.
I want to thank you one by one for your efforts and those you are going to make and tell you that, as a minister, I will do the same and I will always defend the work of those who work at the school, because I know their responsibilities and difficulties. We will always energetically reject insinuations that seek to discredit educational institutions and especially those that work there. Like those that already suppose a hypothetical flight of teachers from the classrooms. Or the narratives that there will be no remedial courses because teachers refuse to take them. Simplistic translations that can damage the system. We show once again that the faculty is healthy. Made up of teachers who believe in it. That they love their work and do it with professionalism and commitment.
We all work together and give schools back to our students – the country will thank us. We have a great historical responsibility. It will be a tough year. But also the beginning of a different path. We will have the resources of Europe with which to build the school of tomorrow, starting with the teachings of these months. We have the ideas and the courage to make them come true.
There is a battle to fight above all: that of eliminating the overcrowded classes, the so-called chicken coop classes. We have begun to intervene in the provision that gave rise to them: the Decree of the President of the Republic March 20, 2009, n. 81. Already today we can repeal it, for the emergency, reducing the number of students per class. We will continue this path. Just as we have to imagine and implement a multi-year investment plan in school buildings, thanks to the use of resources from the so-called
“Recovery Fund”. We have a specific objective, which must be achieved in a timely manner: to provide our country with better, safer and more functional schools to meet the needs of female students. And we will work on didactic innovation and the training of all school personnel, without forgetting the fight against all forms of educational poverty and the fight against early school leaving. For a school in keeping with the times, in which no one is left behind and that can truly offer the best to our boys and girls, that puts them first, that is a home for them to grow up, form and become citizens . aware.
The first day of school will bring great emotions. Even who writes to you. We transmit serenity to our children and their families. Let’s help them to know and respect the health rules, we explained to the students that the school succeeded and was looking forward to receiving them again. Because we are all in school for them. And we all can’t wait to finally look into their eyes and say “Welcome back and welcome back.”
Lucia azzolina
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