COVID-19 adjusts the work of schools: lessons – remote, in rules – prohibitions for parents

Any other day

Vilnius Pilaitė Gymnasium is the capital’s school where classes are held remotely for classes every other day. According to the procedure approved by the institution, the first and second grades of the gymnasium (ninth and tenth grades) come to school, say, on Monday, then the third and fourth grades (grades eleven and twelve) – on Tuesday. According to Zotikas Popov, the director of this gymnasium, in this way the students visit the school more often, the teachers see them, it is possible to consult on the content of the learning, but at the same time the flows are separated and the classes do not mix .

The change in order forced the school to temporarily supplement the Student Code of Conduct and the Learning Agreement, which caused the discontent of some parents: they questioned whether some of the measures were redundant.

If the student does not turn on the camera without a valid reason, the letter “n” is marked.

The new temporarily registered points establish that “to guarantee quality distance learning and learning while the teacher works with audio and video, the student must turn on the camera when instructed to do so by the teacher. If a student does not turn on the camera without a valid reason, they will be marked with the letter “n”.

There is a clause in the learning agreement that states that parents are strictly prohibited from attending distance education. However, parents wonder what to do with families living in a one-room apartment or similar, it is simply not possible to divide them into separate rooms.

Z. Popov has an explanation for parents about both things: “It is necessary to communicate with students using all techniques, all possibilities, because when a child sees children, he sees that they are working. And without seeing them, they can join and not work. To make work easier, to be able to see each other at the right time, speak directly, as in class. As there is no quarantine, we want to do the way the teacher directs the class in the classroom, see all the students, that’s why here we want to see all the students, they have to be connected to see them.

The absence of parents is such that they can observe, but then they have to dress and dress appropriately, etc., as this is a lesson. After all, when teaching lessons on a daily basis, if parents come, they cannot observe the lesson without permission from the teacher. Sometimes we invite parents to attend classes, especially those in which students are reluctant to learn and make noise. Another reason is that sometimes parents actually walk around in shorts, half naked, etc. “

As the teacher leads the lesson in the classroom, he sees all the students, so here we want to see all the students, they must be online.

When asked about the reduced space in part of the family home, the director assured that children without conditions in the home could go to school; they would definitely find a place and learn from there remotely.

Back to class

At Gabija Progymnasium, it was decided to distance study in grades 5-8 due to confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. Acting director of the Andrius Kniška school 15 minutes He said the distance education decision was made on Sept. 25, so the students are now back in class.

“We have returned as planned, we are back at the moment. And we have high hopes that we can stay in that place because there is nothing better than direct contact. There are only isolated students in isolation. We are now dealing with the question of what it will be like. with them, we will try to apply a mixed training even within the classroom ”, said the director.

Photo by Lukas Balandis / 15min / Vilnius Gabija Progymnasium

The school is determined to try to teach when the teacher leads the lesson in the classroom, but at the same time is filming so that the material can also be received by the children in isolation. The director admitted that this is a really difficult task, because technically it is not that easy to do; after all, even parking is very important.

“This is something that has not been tested, we are expecting some challenges. We are preparing a little for all the options. It is probably quite good when there are a small number of students and it is possible to test them, without having a very significant impact on the overall quality of education ”, commented A. Kiskaška.

Now we have children recovering little by little, certainly not all have returned to the learning process, they are in self-isolation and waiting for a second negative answer in the test, but the spread seems to have stopped.

According to the National Center for Public Health, a total of 14 students and an educator were confirmed at Gabija Progymnasium about COVID-19, with the latest case diagnosed on September 20. As far as he knows, there are no new cases at this time that he is aware of.

“Now we have children recovering little by little, certainly not all are back in the learning process, they are still in self-isolation and waiting for a second negative test, but the spread seems to have stopped,” said the principal, assuring the school. decided to switch to distance education, it paid off and was allowed to stop the spread of the epidemic at school.

Distance education in some schools

Alina Kovalevskaja, senior advisor for education in Vilnius municipal administration, said there are not many schools in the capital where teaching will take place remotely this September; many more institutions have returned to normal.

“There are schools of this type, especially those in which cases have to be isolated, for example in Gabija Progymnasium, on our initiative, it was decided to dedicate grades 5-8 to distance education. There are schools that have opted for this weekly exchange when a student arrives in a week and others in a week. Just to reduce the flows, “Kovalevskaya said.

According to her, distance learning no longer presents the same difficulties that were encountered in the spring, when it was very fast and everyone had to redirect from classroom lessons to computer lessons.

So far, we don’t have many institutions that choose only distance learning.

“Everyone learned, we trained in the spring. During this time, some schools have developed in a hybrid way (some students learn in the classroom and others attend the lesson remotely) Red. past.) tests, even training specifically for this purpose. But so far we don’t have many institutions that choose only distance education, “said the Senior Education Advisor.

Recently, there have been around a hundred COVID-19 infections each day, so the possibility is being considered that everyone will have to learn remotely again. A. Kovalevskaya ensures that the capital’s schools are ready for that, the municipality also contributes to it: it organizes trainings, an investigation was carried out in which areas should be stretched.

According to data from Monday, when COVID-19 was used in educational institutions, the infection was recorded in 84 of them. There are 111 children, 55 educators involved in the process, and 15 other staff members.

The latest information on the coronavirus in Lithuania can be found here: Over the weekend, more COVID-19 cases than during the whole of July, 45 people are seriously ill.