07/12/2020 - 13:28
- Clarín.com
- Society
In rotating groups, with masks from first grade, staggered and without crowds at recess , this will be the return to classes that, even without a date, was agreed by the Ministries of Education of the Nation and the provinces. The announcement was made this Sunday by Diego Golombek, director of the National Institute of Technological Education, who recognized that "clearly the classrooms will no longer be the same" after the coronavirus pandemic.
"We do not have any certainty as to when there will be a return to face-to-face classes; yes we must be very prepared for this to be staggered and obviously safe," said Golombek.
Among the measures agreed by all the Ministries together with specialists from the Health portfolio, are the distance of two meters between the students in the common places and one and a half meters inside the classrooms; compulsory face masks from first grade; avoid crowds at the entrance and exit of schools; frequent cleaning and ventilation of classrooms; and sanitation and cleaning protocols for teaching and non-teaching staff and training for managers and families.
As for common spaces, such as patios, dining rooms or bathrooms, the protocol determines that they will also be limited "in terms of physical distance and in terms of the time that can be spent in each of them," Golombek said.
During the report that the Ministry of Health provides every day on the situation of the coronavirus in the country, Golombek, a biologist and researcher from Conicet, pointed out that the return to the classroom "will be due to sanitary and epidemiological conditions and that is changing from moment to moment . "
The expert recalled that "how (the return will be) is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education." In this sense, he explained how the protocol is that was agreed by an advisory council made up of the ministers of all the provinces, union representatives, rectors, specialists in epidemiology, hygiene and health, and student representatives.
The first part of this protocol consists of preparing the classrooms for the return to face-to-face classes and he announced that no educational institution will be able to open until those measures are assured and they have access to water, soap, alcohol gel and disinfection products.
"The reopening is going to be a staggered process and this preparation involves adapting the facilities of educational institutes, both compulsory education and higher institutes and national and private universities," he said.
The schedules, the scientist announced, will be staggered and work is still underway with the Ministry of Transport to determine the best time for entry and exit in order to avoid crowds.
Regarding these measures, Golombek pointed out that "they are minimum obligations that have to be met , it is a mandatory floor without which schools cannot be opened." From that mandatory floor "each jurisdiction may issue additional guidelines and even each school, each university may have its own regulations."
"This distancing obviously forces us to have many fewer students in the classrooms. This implies that not all the children will go regularly but that there will be a spacing in the return to the classrooms and this will depend on each province and each institution, "said Golombek, although he clarified that each jurisdiction will be able to assess which will be the best option" every other day, every other week, different stages that will be determined by each jurisdiction. "
The protocol was unanimously approved by the Federal Council of Education, the National Interuniversity Council, and the Council of Rectors of Private Universities.