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For several weeks, unions, schools and teachers have been warning of the lack of guidance for teachers who belong to groups at risk. Classes begin next Monday and, this Thursday, the Undersecretary of State for Education, João Costa, said that teachers who are part of risk groups cannot work from home and must request a license. doctor. “If my role is compatible with remote work, then I can develop it, if my role is incompatible, then I have to leave a doctor,” said João Costa.
After these statements, during a debate promoted by the Public, the Union of Independent Doctors demanded the correction of information, since “belonging to a risk group is not a condition to issue a Certificate of Temporary Incapacity for Work, commonly known as a medical discharge. ‘ Workers who cannot perform their duties from home and belong to risk groups must be issued a medical certificate justifying their absence from work. The union has already asked for clarification, “on pain that doctors will be forced to issue false medical losses.”
For the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof), this situation is worrying, mainly because teachers are receiving contradictory information. The General Directorate of School Administration “implies that there will be adequate treatment of those who are part of the risk group, with the creation of a module to determine their number and replace these teachers,” says Fenprof. On the other hand, the General Directorate of School Establishments “has informed the schools that teachers must present a medical certificate.” Fenprof accuses the Ministry of Education of treating teachers differently, forcing people who belong to groups at risk to go to schools. And it will also seek guidance from the General Directorate of Health (DGS) on the contact of children with grandparents. “It is not recommended that children be with their grandparents because they are considered a vulnerable group,” says DGS. The union says that “in schools, a significant percentage of teachers are the age of the students’ grandparents and many are even grandparents.”
‘Impossible’ to reduce contact to a third in schools
The school year starts next Monday, but schools have been adjusting over the past few weeks. The entry routes are different from the exit routes, the classes will always have the classes in the same room, to avoid the crossing of students and the use of spaces by many people, the classes will start earlier, approximately half an hour and will end later, also to avoid crossing between students, since in some years it is possible to have shifts – or they have classes in the morning, or in the afternoon. In addition to disinfection and the mandatory use of masks within school spaces, including classrooms.
Even so, classes will not be reduced, maintaining in some cases the number of more than 20 students, since that would require more classrooms, more teachers and more employees in Portuguese schools.
Regarding the new school year, during the meeting that marked the return of the meetings between experts and politicians, at the Porto Faculty of Medicine, a mathematical model was presented that argues that reducing contacts between young people to one third is the only one way to safely avoid a second wave, if contacts in society are cut in half. The epidemiologist and researcher Manuel Carmo Gomes presented the model, highlighting that the mixed educational regime should be considered, between the classroom and distance education.
The reduction of contacts between students to a third is, however, difficult to guarantee, according to Filinto Lima, president of the National Association of Directors of Public School Groups. For this scenario to be possible, teaching cannot be face-to-face, as determined by the guardianship. And more: «The number of teachers had to be tripled, and that is impossible. The number of rooms had to be three times more, which is also impossible, “he told the newspaper i this week. “The schools are overcrowded and there are not so many teachers. On the contrary, many times we have complained about the lack of teachers ”, he added.
The possibility of mixed education is contemplated in the guidelines of the Ministry of Education sent to schools. The rule is that all students start in person and are then evaluated on a case-by-case basis. “A change only occurs when the local health authority proposes to the regional DGEstE (General Directorate of School Establishments) to switch to a mixed regime,” explained Filinto Lima.
Closing schools is not the Government’s objective, and this decision was only made “in very extraordinary situations,” said Health Minister Marta Temido this Friday, during the usual conference to disseminate the epidemiological bulletin. “The intention is that the closure of an entire school is an exception. There are mechanisms that are going to be adopted and are planned for the closure of this school “, said the minister, adding that” a case in a school, or four, living more or less isolated, does not have the same meaning as three or four cases. that they communicate a lot with other people, that they move from room to room. Regarding the monitoring of the behavior of young people in schools, Marta Temido stressed that “there is a safe school and the intervention of the security forces that also help to control these situations.” In addition, it is necessary to “alert the little ones, the school community or tutors when the rules are not respected.”
Scenario in Europe
Students are returning to school in several European countries and there have been cases of school closings after positive cases were identified. This Monday, a week after the start of classes in France, the French Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, announced that 28 schools have already closed in the country. In France, the minister explained, for schools to close, only three adults need to test positive. In Germany, of the 825 schools in Berlin, 41 have closed. However, the German system has a characteristic that Portugal lacks: classes started on August 7, but the return was staggered, as it happens every year.
