11/10/2020 3:36 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 11/10/2020 3:36 PM
Some 500 teachers from all over the country differed from the position of the unions that reject the return of classes and published a letter on Tuesday asking
that the boys can return "urgently" to schools
.
"They are causing damage that may be irreparable," they warn.
The move originated from the organized parents' movement who, since September, have asked for the reopening of schools.
These teachers accompanied the demonstrations that took place in front of the Ministry of Education and decided to make their own claim.
The letter is entitled
"We have to go back to school"
and it indicates that the lack of face-to-face classes increases inequality and that "with closed schools, boys lose and if boys lose, we all lose because we lose the future."
The claim comes after this Monday the return to the schools of the City of Buenos Aires and of various districts of Greater Buenos Aires was enabled, despite the refusal of the teaching unions, who do not want to return until the vaccine is out against the coronavirus.
The return to classes of the students at Elementary School No. 7 of School District 8, Ayohuma Girls, located in Parque Chacabuco.
Photo Andrés D'Elía.
The full letter
We are a group of teachers concerned about this situation and we understand that it
is necessary to open schools and return to face-to-face classes
- suspended by the National Executive Branch on March 15 of this year - as soon as possible.
Boys want to come back, parents want their children to come back.
Closed schools
deepen social inequality
, damage that may be irreparable is being caused.
We see and know that there are in many boys depressive pictures, discouragement, uncertainty.
The attempts to bond with each boy and with each family are in some cases enormous but insufficient.
Scientific opinion recommends opening schools, experience in the world indicates that doing so does not cause a noticeable increase in the spread of Covid-19 and in many countries that have increased restrictions,
schools have not been closed again
.
These experiences are very valuable because they give us the possibility to copy the countries and cities that have been successful and look carefully at those that have had to go back in order not to make those mistakes.
The effort that many managers, tutors, teachers, professors, preceptors, administrative personnel and auxiliary personnel are making is increasingly difficult to sustain, in some cases there is a deep exhaustion not only physical but also psychic and mental.
And the most tragic thing is that despite all this effort there are many students who remain disconnected from school.
A teacher
cannot be replaced by a computer
.
Postponing the return to class and instead offering computers to disconnected students is not the solution.
The work of a teacher in school with students is irreplaceable.
It is the teacher at school who observes the particularities of each course and of each student and there in that context plans and corrects.
It also seems to us that such a proposal implies devaluing our work and sets a dangerous precedent for the future.
Hours and hours of zooms and educational videos are far from representing ideal tools for children to learn and, probably, that prolonged exposure to the screens will, sooner or later, have consequences for their health.
The return to the presence
must be with the best sanitary security conditions
, with clear protocols and with absolute responsibility to reduce the risks of contagion in the school.
The debate on the subject must be sincere, not extortionate.
The participation of a teacher in the remainder of 2020 must be voluntary, if a teacher is part of the population at risk, they must postpone their participation in the presence at least until February 2021, the teacher who returns to the presence in a school You should not do so at any other school where you teach.
The attendance for students during 2020
must
also
be voluntary
, if some of them live very far away, they can choose to continue virtually and the others if they want to do so, they have to be able to do so.
In the case of the AMBA, we know that there are many boys who live in Greater Buenos Aires and prefer to study in schools in the City of Buenos Aires, these are cases that should be especially considered.
If all teachers really consider the school as a fundamental institution and we want to fight against inequality and poverty, going back to school is an ethical imperative.
It is untenable to be able to have a drink in a bar while students cannot see each other in school with their peers and their teachers
, or to say that school is an essential institution while we keep them closed.
The magnitude of the situation requires a return to presence.
Beyond the fulfillment of "pre-existing pacts" that some have signed, we must all be clear that with the schools closed, the boys lose and if the boys lose, we all lose because we lose the future.
You have to go back to school.
It is urgent.
Look also
Rethinking the school calendar
Going back to class: if others could, why couldn't we?