Unvaccinated students complain about being dropped: is education no longer as important as vaccination?

The first-year student, who has entered the Kaunas Faculty of Vilnius University, says that due to the lack of a vaccine she has to face many problems, but hopes that the government will soon make more favorable decisions for those who have not been. vaccinated.

“The first problem that I had to face only after entering education was unknown. At the beginning of the school year, the university began to send letters to students with Passports of Opportunity and they did not give us any information without vaccinating us. I had to write letters. , call the university, look for answers and no one could say under what conditions I could attend classes. Finally, we learned that the conferences will be held in classrooms, and those who do not have a family doctor will be able to attend remotely. time. But here again, another problem is the poor quality equipment. Often it is not possible to hear what the students are discussing or what the teacher says, not all teachers turn on the cameras or their quality is tragic, so We can’t see what’s written on the board I’m glad there are at least such teachers that upload the lecture material into the virtual learning environment; it helps a lot, ”says the first-year Vilnius University student.

However, the biggest problem, according to the student, is discrimination: negative attitudes and pressure are felt not only by other students but also by teachers.

“Both students and teachers feel discriminated against, it’s like discarding. I respect everyone’s opinion and choice, so I would also like my choice to be respected. There are teachers who keep asking questions when I get vaccinated and return to the audience to study live. I don’t even want to study in such an environment, and although the school year has just started, there are already ideas to take an academic license or even go study abroad, where the environment is more liberal, ”says the student.

The girl says that although she has to face several inconveniences, she still does not plan to get vaccinated.

“I believe in science and I know that vaccines have repeatedly saved the world from the worst diseases, but so far I don’t see the need to rush.” I am not against medicine and vaccines, I am very interested in this topic, I read foreign media, various researches, so I am not ready to vaccinate at least for the moment ”, shares the first-year student from Vilnius University .

Another Vilnius University student says he also faces various inconveniences without having a Passport of Opportunity. One of them is the impossibility of staying in a university residence.

“Without a passport, I couldn’t even occupy a bedroom. When I said I didn’t have it, I was kicked out of the waiting room and the closet door slammed shut in front of my nose. Although there are no problems with master classes at the university, because they are all held remotely, it is not always possible to participate in seminars and exercises. It does not matter that the documents indicate that teachers must broadcast these sessions for those who cannot attend live, but there are teachers who do not and say that if we want to participate, we have the opportunity to get vaccinated. I do not even mean the fact that without a GP, I could not attend the University Integration Week, the celebration of September 1, various events, I did not have the opportunity to meet the course participants. These are not as important events as the seminars and exercises, but they are angry anyway, ”says the girl.

“Although everyone who enters has the opportunity to study, there is only one small hook: if you do not have a vaccine and do not take the test on your own as of October 15, you will not be able to attend the seminars, the teachers will mark you” . and eventually you won’t even pass the exams. What should the student do in this case? Drop science and lose a year just because of the decision not to get vaccinated? Higher education creates an image that education is no longer as important as vaccination, ”the student shares.

Edvinas Sinkevičius, a student at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, is happy to be able to return to contact lectures and says that the Passport of Opportunity is the only way to feel safe.

“Learning with a GP should be mandatory to ensure a safe learning environment. I myself feel more secure when I know that the people around me have been vaccinated or are pregnant and do not have COVID-19. Learning indoors over a long period of time carries a significant risk of infection, and the benefits provided by GPs eliminate the possibility of infection for the most part. As I myself was vaccinated and had to get in contact with the sick, I can safely say that GPs are necessary to study, work and communicate in a different way through contact ”, shares E. Sinkevičius.

Kornelija Dapkutė, president of the Klaipėda State College Student Representation, states that after the decision was made to allow contact lectures only for those who have the Passport of Opportunity, various reactions emerged. Most of the discussion was between students without a GP.

“The students reacted ambiguously to this message: some were very happy to finally be able to return to contact studies, while others reacted quite negatively because they could not study on equal terms. We also received many questions, especially from those who do not have a family doctor, so the Student Representation had to work hard to provide the students with all the information that interested them, ”says the President of the Student Representation.

According to K. Dapkutė, Klaipėda State College tries to inform students as much as possible about the importance of vaccinations, and those who do not agree to be vaccinated receive the necessary methodological material to help them study together with other students.

“We shared information about mobile vaccination points with university students, and a special vaccination point was established at the university during the admission of freshmen. We constantly publish various surveys and statistics, we try to spread as much information as possible about the importance of vaccines and that this is the only way to get back to contact sessions, ”says K. Dapkutė.

Neda Žutautaitė, president of the Vilnius University Student Representation, states that the main objective of the university is a safe return to the auditoriums, therefore opportunity passports or equivalent documents are a must.

“During the period when we announced the opportunity to return to contact conferences, we received a lot of reactions and fears from students about how things would go next. The Student Representation of Vilnius University raised questions and appealed to the Ministries of Health and Education, Science and Sports about reimbursement of the cost of testing, especially in cases where students, even with the first dose of the vaccine , they would have to take the test because they couldn’t. get a passport of opportunity. We also raised the issue of the fact that part of the community can test every 7-10 days, and students need PCR tests every 48 hours, ”says N. Žutautaitė.