Interrupted by the bureaucracy? Pilot primary education at Vilnius progymnasium postponed

How 15 minutes Parents of Duke Gediminas Progymnasium students received a letter from the president of the school’s parent council, Arūnas Penkaitis, urging parents to make a quick decision on whether to return the children to schools for contact lessons. .

The letter sent indicated that the municipality’s progymnasium had been selected as a pilot school for primary school children returning to schools for face-to-face lessons.

And this requires the urgent consent of parents to perform the COVID-19 test for the whole home starting this Saturday.

But on Friday night, those plans were abandoned.

Project postponed

P. Poderskis, Director of the Vilnius City Municipality Administration, at the conference on Friday afternoon. confirmed that it was this school that was chosen to implement the experiment – pilot training, which aims to check whether Lithuanian schools are ready for the return of children from primary school.

Podersky said that training, after winning the war with the bureaucracy, could begin on Monday.

But the bureaucracy apparently won.

The president of the Duke Gediminas Progymnasium Parent Council distributed a new letter to the parents of the school’s elementary classes, stating that the pilot training at the progymnasium would be postponed until February 22.

Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min photo / Celebration of the beginning of the school year at Prince Gediminas Progymnasium

“I have just received the latest assurances from the Government of the Republic of Lithuania that the amendments to the legal acts will not be upheld today and therefore we will not do this project by consensus from Monday.

We will be back with him from February 22. During that time, I will take some time to systematize all your questions and try to get answers. They will be shared with me by the municipality and the experts advising the Government.

So, without tension and in a very constructive way, we put together the issues that concern us so that we can go back to primary school after the holidays, ”the letter sent to parents reads.

Postponed due to medical problems

At a press conference on Friday, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė confirmed that the experiment with primary education will have to wait and expressed her support for the initiative.

Legislative changes will not keep pace today and therefore we will not be doing this project by consensus starting Monday.

“We support the initiative because it arose as a result of discussions in our Board of Experts. Our experts have developed a testing algorithm that will allow the school to start operating safely and that security can be maintained for a longer period of time.

But to make sure it works, there was a consensus that we would like to test and verify that we are not in a rush with an schematic that looks good on paper but doesn’t necessarily work (actually, 15 minutes) ”, The Prime Minister spoke at the press conference.

According to her, the Vilnius City Council “decided” to take the necessary actions, but medical problems arose that forced the project to be postponed.

Žygimantas Gedvila / 15min photo / Ingrida Šimonytė

“As these are medical procedures that involve certain requirements that must be met in order to be performed even voluntarily, it will take time to prepare the documents so that everything goes well, without any risk and with the absolute consent of the people involved. So the beginning will be a bit strange, ”said I. Šimonytė.

According to her, after the postponement of the project, it will be possible to involve more educational institutions.

Rasa Jakilaitienė, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, told BNS that for the project to be implemented, the government will have to change the decree that regulates the quarantine regime, as it currently prohibits swarming, and the resumption of education in the classroom inevitably means doing it.

Will test every farm

In accordance with the plan presented by P. Poderskis on Friday, the families participating in the pilot education project, with their consent, would be analyzed using Covid-19 cumulative PCR tests.

This sampling method has not yet been approved by order of the Ministry of Health.

Grinda nuotr./Povilas Poderskis

“The cumulative tests are very similar to our usual tests for COVID-19, except that the rod is not inserted into the nasopharynx, but rather wets the nasal cavity.

After conducting such a test, putting all those sticks in a tube and examining it, the entire home is examined, ”said the representative of the municipality.

Schools also promise to test teachers on an ongoing basis to avoid the threat of COVID-19 infection.

Read more about the planned pilot education – Here.