Ricardo Braginski
08/19/2020 - 13:36
- Clarín.com
- Society
The Buenos Aires Ministry of Education is moving forward with its plan to open schools with "digital spaces" for all those students who have a problem with distance education. Buenos Aires officials have just finished the protocol of operation of these spaces that will be presented in the afternoon to the national government. There it is stipulated that the opening will be gradual from August 31 . As Clarín learned , it will cover 634 schools (464 primary and 170 secondary), with a maximum of 15 boys for each school (with an occupation coefficient of one person every 15 square meters).
The plan has some changes from what happened last week. The new program, which they called "Connect in the school", is not intended only for the 6,500 students who had lost all contact with the school -according to reports from the directors themselves-, but for all those Buenos Aires students who have had problems with pedagogical continuity in the midst of the pandemic, because they do not have good connectivity or enough devices in their homes, or because they prefer to study at school instead of at home. Any student can sign up.
From the Buenos Aires Ministry of Education they say that in the "digital spaces" (which will have the equipment and Internet connection of the computer cabinets of each school), students will be able to do the tasks they have received from their teachers and professors. And they clarify that they will be different environments of the school , such as classrooms, SUM or similar.
Another difference with respect to what had transpired last week is that there will be no teachers in charge of those spaces but a representative of the Ministry of Education .
The protocol that will arrive today at the office of the Minister of Education Nicolás Trotta, for approval, also establishes that it will be mandatory, for entry and stay in digital spaces, the use of a mask at all times . The temperature will be taken of all the people who enter the educational establishments for the use of the digital space.
In addition, only students with a previously assigned shift will be allowed to enter accompanied, in the case of students under 15 years of age, by an elderly person who is living together or with their corresponding authorization. The shifts, the document says, will be granted staggering the entry and exit times . And all computers will be disinfected after each shift.
The digital spaces will be enabled four hours a day (from 10 to 14) . The shifts will be granted according to the capacity of the spaces and with a maximum stay of two hours. The maximum capacity per shift will be 9,450 students adding all the schools in the City.
Guild reviews
The plan in which the Buenos Aires government is moving forward received strong criticism from some teachers' unions , especially UTE, which is part of Ctera. From that union they consider that it is "irresponsible" to open schools in the City in the midst of this epidemiological situation. They affirm that the health of the educational community is not being taken care of and they say that, instead of opening computerized spaces in schools, the Buenos Aires government should provide computers connected to the Internet to students and families who need them.
From the Buenos Aires government, for its part, they affirm that they have already delivered 12 thousand computers since the pandemic began , at the rate of one thousand per week. They are computers that do not have an Internet connection. And they assure that the "Connect at school" program goes beyond connecting to the Internet because, "in addition to being aimed at those who do not have good Internet or enough devices for everyone in the family, it is also designed for those who choose to do the same. educational assignments at school instead of at home. "
"This is a first stage of many . We have to walk a slow, careful and responsible path to increase the levels of presence, give security to families and allow children to re-learn, play and have fun at school," he said Soledad Acuña, Minister of Education of the City.