Doubt about the number of infected students – Society

The fact that only 39 primary school students and 52 secondary school students are infected in Serbia, and that half of the total number are positive students from schools in the capital, is far from the truth.

As a reason for the discrepancy between official statistics and the actual situation on the ground, Danas interlocutors say that children and young people are less frequently tested because they mostly have mild forms of the disease. Unions suspect that school principals are providing accurate data and are especially “upset” by the fact that crisis staff do not announce how many teachers are infected.

– In the society in which we witnessed the celebration of the victory over the crown, it is no wonder that we are now witnessing circumstances in which we need to demonstrate that our educational system is the best, the most ingenious and the most successful, and what this statement has to do with reality is obviously not disputed. Vesna Vojvodić Mitrović of the Serbian Education Workers’ Union “Nezavisnost” says by Danas.

Epidemiologist Zoran Radovanovic also doubts the official statistics.

– Parents complain that it is difficult to test a young person, they say that they are struggling, that they go from one health institution to another and receive contradictory information, so there are certainly many more infected children than official data shows . In children, the symptoms are mostly mild and you will surely miss them for that. Personally, I am against closing schools if it is not necessary. And if there is to be a suspension of classes, it should target institutions and settlements where the situation is dramatic – says Radovanović for Danas.

He points out that education has suffered greatly since March 15 and that the loss of knowledge is enormous.

– No matter how well we organize online classes, there is a lack of direct contact with the teacher, just because it would be good for children to go to school for socialization. Also in Western Europe there is the attitude that if it is not necessary, schooling should not be suspended. Children are a less important reservoir of infection, and considering the irreparable loss in education, it is seen that schools continue to function as much as possible, Radovanović notes.

Vesna Vojvodić Mitrović also agrees that the favorable epidemiological outlook in schools is unrealistic, partly transferring responsibility for such a situation to school principals.

Principals are obliged to report objectively on the situation in their school, but according to Vojvodić Mitrović, they are well aware of the fact that they can be sanctioned or assessed as irresponsible in circumstances where they cannot be held accountable for all elements of care your students’ medical

Especially when it comes to high school students.

– Because even when you have provided hygienic and health care in schools, you cannot be sure that a student who changes two or three transports is not at risk. That is why many principals subtly try to avoid the more objective presentation of the situation in their school, because they think that they will receive some kind of irresponsible leader epithet from the Minister of Education who did not act in accordance with the recommendations and obligations. I think this is the core of the problem that we in the education system do not have precise information about what is happening on the ground, thinks Vojvodić Mitrović.

When asked why the three unions asked for an extension of the holidays instead of switching to online classes, if they think the epidemiological situation in schools is worrying, he said the idea came from a previous experience when the holidays were extended. winter due to flu.

– I believe that the proposal was the result of the assessment of the president of the union that the extension of vacations is the least painful option to overcome the blow to our health. In March, the decision was to close schools and the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection was ten times less, says Vojvodić Mitrović.

On the other hand, Dr. Radovanović explains why an analogy between influenza and kovid should not be made.

– The flu is a completely different disease. When school is over, either because of vacations or because a decision is made to take an artificial holiday, the frequency of the flu suddenly decreases, because children are the population group that is most frequently infected and most often spreads the flu. infection at other ages. But with corona, children are more difficult to infect and, when infected, germinate less than adults, so epidemiologically speaking, the role of children in spreading germs is much more important with the flu than with the kovid, Radovanović notes.

Although, according to the latest instructions, schools are obliged to report the number of infected people to the school administration on a daily basis, it is noted that crisis staff have so far not provided data on how many teachers are sick. In schools, they testify that it is becoming increasingly difficult to organize replacements, and in social media groups that bring together educators, there is a constant demand to switch to work online.

– The fact that teachers and non-teaching staff of schools are not separated in statistics is not a consequence of someone not being interested in it, but on the contrary to reduce the possible response of the public to some type of dissatisfaction or increased anxiety That is why all these data are merged into the total number of citizens, and we see in the field how many teachers are absent from work. It is not difficult to check how many teachers have contracted the coronavirus because we fight during the pandemic so that employees who are on sick leave for kovida 19 receive a full salary. But, if we’ve gotten to the point where some internal control checks whether principals have recognized how many teachers are missing from their schools, how they handle replacements, and how the educational process is organized, then that is an indicator that the system is not right. configured, thinks Vesna Vojvodić Mitrović.

Who counts the teachers?

In response to official data on the number of infected students, followed by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić’s assessment that schools are “the safest places,” the Education Workers’ Union said it was not even mentioned. to the teachers “so that the romantic attitude towards the current situation would be complete.”

“In other words, it is safe because we have no idea what is happening in the schools! How many employees are infected and on sick leave due to the coronavirus, how many are isolated, we have heard that this government is not interested in the least. Despite the fact that schools fill out questionnaires and tables, no one takes care of the numbers and certainly no one analyzes them. Not to mention the replacements of the absent ones because they are impossible to find, even under normal health circumstances. In Serbia, school employees are not valued, they are poorly paid, and in the epidemic they are not even counted ”, they point out in the Union.

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