Outbreak in the Gabija progymnasium: nearly 100 people in self-isolation, some lessons held remotely

In total, coronavirus was detected in eighths of the seventh grade at this school. Currently, there are 18 teachers and three seventh grade students in self-isolation – 70 students.

“Since we have a situation where 18 teachers are isolated, we just cannot physically implement the educational process, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades transfer to distance education for two weeks from now,” Andrius said Kniška, Acting Director of BNS.

“I could lead by example. Taking a specific seventh grade, which must be in school, of the six lessons, all must be led by teachers who are currently in self-isolation, ”he added.

According to the acting principal, although the school only opened this year, there should be no major problems with distance education.

“There may be a bit of a climb, but we are not newcomers, most of the teachers have left the gym, they have already worked remotely. (…) This is not something new neither for teachers nor for students. We believe that everything should go smoothly ”, he commented.

According to A. Kniška, primary school children will continue their education in the usual way.

The first case of coronavirus in Gabija Progymnasium was detected last week.

As reported by the National Center for Public Health on Sunday, foreign language classes for children at school were combined into various classes, and clothing before and after physical education classes was shared with children from other classes; there was no separation of student flows.

However, A. Kniška claims that it was simply not possible to teach a foreign language in any other way.

“It was not the first foreign language, it was the second foreign language. Joining is not simply because we are out of space or some other situation, but because second foreign languages ​​are sometimes chosen by one, two, or three students in the class, and groups of this size simply do not form, which results in joining classes to form a group. It is a common practice, “she explained.

According to the acting principal, the situation is similar when it comes to physical education lessons, although they hold the classes in different places in the hallway, they can only be changed in the locker room.

“We don’t have other rooms physically: some for girls, others for boys. (…) We make sure that these classes are not mixed in those rooms, it is observed that there are security measures during the change of clothes, but now the decision has been made to look for other rooms so that we can completely separate these classes “, said A. Kniška.

In total, about 80 teachers work at Vilnius Gabija Progymnasium, more than 1.2 thousand students study. students.

Waiting for a unified NVSC algorithm

According to Vilnius Deputy Mayor Vytautas Mitalas, in total in the capital coronavirus was detected in five educational institutions for employees or students, but the situation is under control.

“So far, I think that the situation is not bad in the sense that I know how many additional decisions the schools have made. For example, the big gyms operate every two weeks and apply distance learning every two weeks. The schools are working hard. to protect themselves from the virus, ”he said.

However, the vice mayor of the capital criticizes the NVSC for not adopting a unified system of what schools must do when a disease is diagnosed.

“It would really help us to manage if the National Center for Public Health had an approved algorithm, which we had prepared ourselves, on which schools should agree when a case is clarified before an individual NVSC assessment,” Mital said.

According to him, the municipality developed such an algorithm in early September.