Fabian Debesa
10/07/2020 - 20:27
Clarín.com
Society
The definition of the return to the classroom in the country is postponed and the impact on teaching assumes features of a disaster on vulnerable sectors.
A survey by the municipality of La Plata reveals that
40%
of students in the last year of high school dropped out of school
.
In addition, the work shows only 18% of children and adolescents have daily contact with their teachers and
half of the parents acknowledge that they do not have technological resources
to maintain the link with the institution.
The study was carried out when
more than 200 days have
passed
since the suspension of school activity and while the Ministry of Education of the Nation
delays the decision
to resume the "presence" in any of the variants that could allow the epidemiological picture derived from the coronavirus pandemic.
The survey was conducted by the Municipal Community Development Secretariat in popular neighborhoods in the towns of Los Hornos, Altos de San Lorenzo and Tolosa.
Community agents interviewed members of 348 families and obtained data from 725 children and adolescents, of which 604 are in the age range to attend educational establishments.
"With this survey, we can conclude that children and adolescents from the most vulnerable neighborhoods of the city are
the most affected
by the stoppage of face-to-face classes," said Julieta Quintero Chasman, the head of the area.
Mayor Julio Garro, with Governor Axel Kicillof and Minister Daniel Gollan, in a meeting held in July.
Photo: Mauricio Nievas
The mayor of La Plata, Julio Garro is in the group of provincial mayors who asked the Province for authorization for a "
gradual opening of educational institutions
, with protocols."
They consider that there is still some loophole for "the damage to be irreversible."
For now, Axel Kicillof has not defined an eventual reopening of the almost 11 thousand school buildings that operate in the provincial territory.
A week ago he presented a protocol to the Ministry of Health of the Nation and to the Chief of Cabinet.
Although details of that diagram
were not
disclosed, he anticipated that
it could not be applied
to districts that are in
phase 3
of quarantine.
They are the 40 municipalities of the AMBA and another five (including Mar del Plata, Bahía Blanca and Tandil) that had sources of infection in recent weeks.
But it also did not decide to move forward in towns and cities where the circulation of the virus is less.
However, he announced a program to
re-link some 350 thousand students
who, according to the authorities, lost contact with teachers.
The governor launched a program to summon
15,000 advanced
teaching
students
to attend "house to house" to those children and adolescents who for different reasons lost contact with schools.
The work of the health care entity of La Plata also evaluated the living conditions, income level and employment situation of the 348 registered households:
5.4% of the minors who live there are not enrolled in educational establishments
.
Only 27.5% of those who do belong to the system maintain daily contact with the institution during the ASPO.
More results of the survey: 17.8% said they have no current contact, 44.6% said they have weekly contact with the school;
27.5%, daily;
23.6% sporadic;
and the remaining 4.3% the answer was "never".
Among the students who maintained the link, 41% have classes through some platform.
37% only give out a booklet with homework and 21% state that they have 'other types of contact' (phone calls and WhatsApp messages, according to the questionnaire. Regarding the availability of tools to take classes in isolation, 73% of the households surveyed have cell phone, 15% with a computer, and
12% no device
.
There was also a conceptual question.
The result is not encouraging: 43% of the parents interviewed consider that their sons and daughters
"are not learning content during the ASPO"
.
The efforts to return to a new educational normality are stagnant.
This week there were meetings in the Federal Council of Education and it seemed that Minister Nicolás Trotta would announce a date for some regions.
It did not occur due to differences raised by the health authorities
.
The discussion is technical, but political issues are underlying.
The government of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, in CABA, has been proposing for two months, variants so that at least 6,500 children and adolescents can resume some face-to-face educational practice.
All the proposals were rejected by Trotta.
In the Province, there were presentations by community leaders from Together for Change (La Plata, February 3, Lanús, San Miguel, San Isidro).
Kicillof considered that these are "opportunistic positions" and did not endorse the reopening either.
At this point, the provincial government has the endorsement of the unions.
The head of Suteba, Roberto Baradel, considered that "raising this possibility in places with peak contagion is irresponsible" and attributed the proposals of mayors and the opposition to "political marketing" maneuvers.
The leader of recognized Kirchnerist militancy was not the only one.
The president of the FEB, Mirta Petroccini said yesterday that "the health of teachers is at stake."
And that must be analyzed case by case.
"We are not the educators who must decide when to return to class," said Petroccini.
The opposition rains down requests for the boys to have contact with the school system again.
The former Minister of Education, Alejandro Finocchiaro (who was also in charge of the area in the Province) said that “it is a very bad symbolic sign that the casinos open, that the Tourism Highway and the Libertadores return, but that the schools remain closed ”.
Last week, the president of the National Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Massa (from the Frente de Todos) also asked that students in the last year of primary school be able to resume some activity within the institutions.
La Plata. Correspondent.
DD
Look also
While the Nation does not respond for the return to face-to-face classes, the City gathered one hundred students in a sports center