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In the new school year, which begins Monday through Thursday, teachers, students and staff will experience a different school than previous years, with a set of rules and operating rules defined by the Ministry of Education and the Board. -General Health (DGS) to help keep the school open as long as possible.
The use of a mask will be mandatory for all people from the 2nd cycle, the physical distance will be, whenever possible, at least one meter and between the different spaces of the school, which will be sanitized frequently, are defined circulation circuits. The school calendar this school year will be different, with more school days and fewer vacation days, an amendment that, according to the Minister of Education, serves, above all, to give students and teachers more time to recover and consolidate the learning of the year . past.
In addition to these measures, the school directors also defined that this return to school will have extended or delayed hours, shorter or interspersed intervals, and classes organized in “bubbles”, with rooms designed for each one to avoid contact between different groups.
Schools confess their inability to meet standards
Despite the guidelines of the health authorities and the organization drawn up by each school, the school year is viewed with concern by teachers and the All Teachers Union (STOP) has even called a strike for the first days, until September, 17th. thinking of those who consider that security conditions are not guaranteed.
Many schools insist that they do not have the capacity to comply with all the stipulated standards, that is, guarantee the distance of students in the classrooms.
The recommendations point to at least one meter of distance between students, but the difficult geometry of the organization of the classrooms does not guarantee this measure.
Mário Nogueira, general secretary of FENPROF, assumes that more than 80 percent of schools do not respect the distance rule. In addition to issues related to the pandemic, Mário Nogueira also highlights structural problems.
The general secretary of FENPROF points out that more than 90 percent of the schools say that they lack assistants and this is “a very serious problem” in the stage in which we live. Additionally, 75 percent of schools assume they still lack teachers and this is a problem that could be exacerbated by teachers who are in risk groups for Covid-19 disease.
In relation to this specific problem, concerns also arise about the working conditions of teachers, since The Government has decided that teachers who belong to the Covid-19 risk group do not have the right to telework. Professionals can deliver a certificate proving that they are part of a risk group and are entitled to 30 days of excused absence. After this period, these professionals must have a normal medical leave to remain at home and begin to receive only sickness benefit.
The government promises to replace, every week, teachers who are forced to stay home for health reasons. However, the effectiveness of this mechanism is being questioned and some associations warn of the possibility that hundreds of students are harmed, without classes.
Outbreaks will be “inevitable”
Contrary to what happened in March, when all schools were closed to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, face-to-face teaching will now be the rule. The DGS has already said that closing a school will be a measure of last resort, taken only in “high risk” situations, but analysts say outbreaks will make them inevitable.
Experts warn that several schools will not be able to open windows to ventilate the rooms since fixed glass panels have been placed in the renovation works, others without exterior spaces.
Or pediatrician Fernando Chaves affirms that Peer-to-peer transmission of the new coronavirus in schools will be rare, but it is possible.
The pediatrician highlights the differences between children and adolescents in transmission and in the disease itself. “The smaller the child, the less sick he will get”, explains Fernando Chaves in an interview with RTP. “The rest will have a mild to moderate disease,” he adds.
Fernando Chaves says that parents should be calm and stresses that children “will not take the virus home.” “If children do contract the disease, and they will, it will be a disease, in the vast majority, asymptomatic, mild or moderate and Transmission appears to be primarily from adult to child, not between children.”, Explains the pediatrician, based on the conclusions of the studies that have been developed worldwide in this area.
“The child, the smaller and asymptomatic, the less transmits the disease”, concludes Fernando Chaves.
In an interview with RTP two weeks ago, the Minister of Education, Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, responded to the criticisms that have been expressed about the conditions for the opening of the academic year, ensuring that schools are prepared. The minister insisted on the need to instill confidence in teachers, parents and students, saying that schools are not a place for the virus to spread.
Still this Monday, the National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) publishes a survey with several schools on the return to classes, while the National Federation of Education, the National Confederation of Parents Associations and the National Association of Directors of Groups and Schools Publics carry out a joint action in Vila Nova de Gaia on the occasion of the opening of schools.
Also this Monday the classes of #EstudoEmCasa will return to RTP Memória. In the first weeks, the channel will only transmit the contents transmitted in the 3rd period of last year, to complement the work that will be done in schools to reinforce and consolidate these learnings, but as of October 19 they will begin to be transmitted. the new classes.
c / The day after tomorrow
