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Initially scheduled for September 28, the return to classes at the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (IPVC) was postponed to October 6, the higher education institution announced today.
A postponement, explains Carlos Rodrigues, president of IPVC, justified by the guarantee that all the measures adopted by the institution are in force and fully operational.
“This decision, which implied the change to the School Calendar, was justified by the need to ensure the safest response of the institution to the evolution of the covid-19 pandemic, in the exceptional and contingency situation that we are experiencing,” he said.
Carlos Rodrigues also leaves the appeal, at the beginning of the school year, to the entire IPVC community to be strict in complying with the rules and guidelines already defined.
“As we all know, mitigating the evolution of the pandemic involves a large part of our behavior. I urge, and ask, all members of our academy to be strict in complying with the rules and guidelines issued by the authorities, the presidency, and school boards. The success and security of each one of us is also the success and security of all ”.
The IPVC-P-57/2020 Dispatch and the update of the IPVC Contingency Plan for SARS-CoV-2 infection determine the prevention and control measures for the transmission of COVID-19 for the 2020/2021 academic year.
Functioning of teaching activities
Some of the measures implemented by the IPVC in view of the second wave of covid-19:
Face-to-face classes, extended hours with classes including Saturdays, class setting per classroom, use of spaces, which until then were not used for classes, namely auditoriums, which were used for other technical-scientific activities, but which will allow increasing the amount of teaching spaces and a better distribution of teaching activities, mandatory use of masks, hand hygiene and space, adequate signage and the necessary barriers, in all schools, to facilitate community movement, safeguarding social distance and avoiding crossing between people when accessing school spaces.
Accommodation, canteens and bars
In terms of accommodation, the IPVC is according to the latest report of the National Plan for Accommodation in Higher Education (PNAES), the second polytechnic in the country with the largest number of own beds available for student accommodation.
“This indicator shows the concern that the Institution has always attributed to the reception of displaced students,” emphasizes the president. With the restrictions posed by the covid-19, the IPVC intends to maintain the same offer, having established protocols with MOVIJOVEM, the managing entity of the Youth Hostels, for the possibility that the IPVC students, under special conditions, can use the shelters of Viana do Castelo, Cerveira, Melgaço and Ponte de Lima.
In dining rooms and bars, IPVC will provide the service of to carry out in addition to redefining lunch hours, through the implementation of shifts reconciled with the opening hours of classes.
Main points of orientation for the operation of the new school year
Teaching and face-to-face assessment will be the operating rule in the 2020-2021 school year;
The opening hours of teaching activities should be extended, starting earlier and / or ending later, and including Saturday in the school week;
The use of personal protective equipment is mandatory for everyone involved in the training process and hand hygiene should be promoted before entering each room / amphitheater / laboratory and when leaving;
Disinfectants, including gel and alcohol wipes, are placed in classrooms to reinforce hygiene measures.
In laboratory activities, support technicians should clean the equipment at the end of each class and prepare it for the next class; in laboratories where individual gowns are used, it is the owner’s responsibility to ensure that the gown is kept in the classroom and to ensure its safekeeping and hygiene;
Study visits must be absolutely exceptional;
Students who must undertake internships in health facilities (clinical internships) and elderly care (gerontology) this year can take the Covid19 test in IPVC, which meets the conditions to guarantee that test;
Personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectant materials and hygiene measures.
The IPVC has thermometers in each of its buildings to measure temperature;
Entry to the IPVC facilities will only be allowed with the use of an individual mask. The cleaning of the community masks will be carried out by the users, following the manufacturer’s specifications;
The use of other PPE (for example, visor) may be indicated, depending on the activity carried out and the risk of exposure;
Disinfectant materials are placed, namely, alcohol gel and wipes, distributed in the different spaces of the institution, in places of service and common use, to reinforce hygiene measures;
The use of elevators is restricted to people with reduced mobility and cargo transport;
The entrance / exit of the buildings will be carried out exclusively through the doors identified for this purpose;
At the entrances of each building, carpets moistened with disinfectant are placed, so that everyone who accesses the facilities can proceed to disinfect the soles of their shoes;
Ventilation of closed spaces is recommended;
When possible, building doors should be open;
During the current academic year, the concession and rental of the facilities used for the training process is suspended;
Guard missions should be limited to absolutely necessary situations, favoring non-face meetings;
IPVC already has defined alternatives to a possible worsening of the pandemic
This is the scenario set for the start of the academic year in 2020/21, however, warns the president of the IPVC, “if we are facing a worsening of the pandemic situation, we have already thought of other solutions.”
Solutions that undergo the transformation of various rooms that are being equipped with image and sound capture systems that will allow classes to function in transmission.
The division of classes is also planned, by much smaller groups. Teaching activities in synchronous and asynchronous systems, but especially the combination of the two systems is another measure considered.
Faced with the most extreme scenario, that is, a new confinement, the IPVC is also ready, since it was already implemented in the second half of 2019/20.
The president of the IPVC says that “in these complex times, full of uncertainties, doubts and anxieties, the IPVC is preparing for the start of the 2020/2021 academic year, doing everything possible to comply with the instructions of the health authorities and of the government to, in this way, mitigate the risks of the spread of the covid-19 pandemic and prevent contagion within our community “, concluding with an appeal to the entire IPVC community:” I conclude by sending my best wishes to each and every one of you guys. a very successful year and reiterating my request that each of us contribute, with their behavior, to this success that will also be the success of all ”.
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