Ricardo Braginski
09/04/2020 - 13:00
Clarín.com
Society
More and more is heard among families sending their children to private schools.
They say that in a low voice, or sometimes in a louder voice, the school authorities
inform them that this year face-to-face classes will no longer return
.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, they are preparing to end the school year in this way: in Zoom when possible, or through the method that each school has used for distance education.
Three months before the end of the year it seems that, although no one officially "lowered" any directives from the governments,
many managers are already thinking and planning as the year ends in this way
.
"It is not that we say that there will no longer be face-to-face classes, but only three months before the end of the school year
we are already in a difficult moment to think about a protocolized return
as proposed," says
Clarín
Perpetuo Lentijo, secretary general of the Association of Argentine Private Educational Entities (Adeepra).
And he adds: "That is why we believe that
it would not hurt right now to start trying a trial
of the protocol at least with some degrees and years, the last of each level as proposed by the Federal Council of Education. Because if not,
what Is it going to happen next year?
If there is no solution to this,
are we all going to continue locked up?
"
“Officially, we cannot tell families that this year will end without face-to-face classes.
But both we and the people understand that, as things come, it
will be very difficult for this to change in just three months
.
That is the reality ”, confides another director of a school in the Province.
Other sources in the sector commented to
Clarín
that - unlike what is often thought -
the reality of private schools is very diverse
, very diverse.
And that, when planning the year, it all depends on how well each one is doing with virtual education.
There are schools that are doing quite well and so they have a more proactive spirit and
tend to maintain the experience of virtual education to avoid contagion
.
They are schools that serve educational communities that have devices and sufficient connectivity -both in the homes of students and teachers- to go through this situation with some solvency.
These schools tend to have teachers and students with better digital skills, too.
And they are able to carry out a good percentage of their classes via Zoom, an experience that replicates, in some way, that of face-to-face classes.
However, there are other private schools - attended by families with more economic deprivation - in which connectivity and the number of devices that are shared in homes
limit the experience of virtual education
.
In these schools, managers and families
tend to be more anxious about the return to the presence
.
In addition to private schools, the version also circulated that Nacional Buenos Aires and other UBA pre-university schools had also abandoned the possibility of returning to face-to-face classes this year.
Sources from that university explained to
Clarín
that, in reality, what there was was a letter from the Secretary of Secondary Education to all parents, in which he says that those schools are
going to put notes with numbers
.
There it is not said that face-to-face classes will not return, because that will depend on what the Buenos Aires authorities define in agreement with the Nation, they told
Clarín
.
Lentijo insists that
the remainder of the year has to be used to move forward with some kind of comeback in schools
.
“Above all you have to think about those who finish secondary school.
Those guys are
going to finish the year without the party
.
At least let's give him that contact, so necessary for them.
Education is not only academic, intellectual, it is also social contact.
It is as important or more important ”, he affirmed.
PS