Ricardo Braginski
09/15/2020 - 13:17
Clarín.com
Society
Six months have passed, in some more places, since
the
coronavirus
pandemic closed the doors of their schools
.
Since then, millions of children and adolescents in the world suddenly stopped meeting - face to face - to learn, to have fun, to become friends.
And although the pandemic is far from exhibiting its end point, the governments of most countries seem to understand that
it is time to return to the classroom
, that this not only "normalizes" the lives of children, but also that of the rest. of society and therefore can prop up the economy.
September is the month when classes begin in the countries of the Northern Hemisphere, after the summer holidays in July and August.
And most of the administrations on that side of the globe are beginning to test
how the long and strict protocols that they were preparing
while the boys were at home
translate into reality
.
Students go back to high school in Wuhan, China.
EFE
Many governments see the return to school as something urgent: the UN recently called for the reopening of schools "as soon as possible" around the world
"to avoid an educational catastrophe."
Two weeks ago
,
China moved
, the same country in which the pandemic started.
Almost
200 million students
, from kindergarten to high school, returned to the public schools of that country.
In the United States, there is no single policy and definitions
are up to each school district
.
Italy put its protocol to the test this Monday, with 5.6 million students returning to classes, following other countries such as Spain, France or Great Britain.
In Sweden the schools never closed.
In Latin America, the epicenter of the disease now, there are different strategies: from Uruguay that has already returned to classes to Bolivia, Paraguay or Venezuela, which have already announced that they will not return in 2020.
In Argentina,
only Formosa and La Pampa now have classes
in schools in small towns in those provinces.
San Juan and Catamarca had started, but they turned back.
The City wants to go back to the boys who disconnected, but the Nation won't let it.
China
Paradoxes of fate, the first Chinese city to open classrooms was
Wuhan
, the original center of the pandemic.
On Tuesday, September 1,
almost 1.4 million students
returned
from more than 2,840 primary and secondary schools
.
Since then, China has adopted an ambitious back-to-school program that seeks to bring back the majority of students, with the exception -in principle- of those from the Xinjiang region in the west of that country, where outbreaks were registered in several cities .
Elementary school students attending a class on the first day in Wuhan.
AFP
The back-to-school protocol in China is not very different from that of the rest of the countries of the world, although
the Communist Party's
ability to command and control
over social life is.
The chronicles say that he has mobilized a large number of local officials and party cadres to inspect the classrooms, while implementing applications and other technologies to monitor students and staff, and restrict their movements.
In all countries,
negotiation and agreement with teachers' unions is essential
to guarantee the reopening of schools.
But in China, independent unions are banned and activism is discouraged.
In addition, the government forces university students to stay on campus, prohibiting them from going out to eat or meet friends, something difficult to imagine in Western universities.
Students in Wuhan.
AFP
With regard to
sanitary measures
, school principals should instruct students and teachers to keep their distance within classrooms.
Chinstraps are, in most regions of China, optional.
The rules are stricter in areas that the government considers particularly vulnerable to an outbreak.
In Beijing, for example, you are obliged to wear a chinstrap at all times.
Europe
Europe was the territory of the second focus of the coronavirus pandemic.
In most countries, classes were interrupted in early March and they are now making every effort to move to a “new normal”.
All this in the middle of a
second wave of coronavirus
in many of the countries of the region.
The news of the week was the return to school this Monday of
5.6 million students in twelve regions of Italy
.
Another eight postponed the start, most of them to September 24.
In total, $
4 billion
was allocated
to adapt the entire system.
Students return to class in Rome, Italy.
Xinhua
By school protocol, every classroom in Italy was divided in half.
Strict security measures apply in school spaces, both in social distance and in the use of masks and continuous hygiene measures.
Italy followed countries like France, Spain, and Great Britain, which had returned to almost all of their schools by early September.
In Spain, the return to school is progressive, by educational stages, and began earlier in kindergarten and primary school.
The protocols are similar to those in Italy.
Before returning, and as a preventive measure,
in Spain all teachers were tested
.
In Madrid, more than 2,000 tested positive.
The Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá, asked for confidence because "the safest place is the school", although she said that "no one can be calm either inside or outside the school" in these circumstances.
Preparations in a school in Rome, last week, to return to classes.
In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said reopening schools is
a "moral duty."
There is no national regulation on the use of masks in schools.
The government has left this decision in the hands of each school and has said that primary school children do not need to do so.
In Sweden, however, schools never closed.
Anders Tegnell, the man of reference in that country in health matters, always supported the decision to keep schools open with the argument that opening and closing them continuously - due to the appearance of sources of contagion - would not be good for trust in the authorities and in the fight against the virus.
U.S
Although they are in the northern hemisphere, the pandemic arrived in the United States a few months later than in China and Europe, and the beginning of the school year found them in
a serious debate about whether or not it is time to open classrooms
.
With much more decentralized power than other countries, definitions are now up to each school district, although most are choosing to
continue distance learning
, according to a New York Times chronicle.
New York.
School safety officers monitor a teacher's temperature for safety reasons outside of a school building, as preparations begin for the delayed start of the school year.
New York City is the only major school system that plans to offer some face-to-face education, although it pushed back its start date from September 10 to September 21. The protocol calls for wearing masks all day, social distancing, an improvement in classroom ventilation, fewer students per classroom, one nurse in each school.
And if the virus contagion rate exceeds 3% (currently 0.9%), classes will be suspended.
Many American universities that have reopened have seen outbreaks on campuses, forcing some to close again.
The security measures recommended by most of the states in that country include the use of masks inside schools and limiting movement so that children remain in the same classroom all day.
It is also advisable to separate the desks, cancel the meetings inside the school and the meals in the cafeterias, so characteristic of that country.
Latin America
Latin America is, today,
the epicenter of the pandemic in the world
.
Around here the first curve is still on the rise and few countries already plan a total return to the classroom.
Although Nicaragua is the only country that says it has never interrupted classes (there are voices that relativize it), the truth is that
the first one who was encouraged to return was Uruguay.
The Uruguayans surprised in May when they showed their plans for a progressive return to the classroom starting on June 1.
Strictly speaking, the normalization process began on April 22 with the reopening of rural schools, as part of a schedule that ended on June 28 with the return of all school levels, although with less work hours and days.
Students during a break in a school, in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Xinhua
In Uruguay, schools comply with a strict sanitary protocol, which includes dividing the groups in two to ensure physical distancing.
Meanwhile, the students who do not attend maintain a remote monitoring through the technological platforms.
For now, rural schools are the only ones that operate full-time and with open dining rooms.
From the Uruguayan experience, many highlight the support it received from
the Ceibal Plan
, which since 2007, and uninterruptedly, has delivered computers to students and trains teachers in digital education.
With the pandemic, "Ceibal at home" was launched, which seeks to ensure the continuity of distance classes.
At the other end, there are other countries in the region -such as Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela- already announced that
this year they will not have face-to-face classes
.
Argentina
In the middle of the two previous strategies, Argentina left in the hands of the national government, through the Ministry of Education, the power to authorize the opening of schools in each of the provinces.
In all cases, a base protocol must be followed that was prepared in that portfolio by a special commission and that had the endorsement of all the provinces in the Federal Council of Education.
In Formosa.
Some students have already returned to face-to-face classes.
At the moment,
only Formosa and La Pampa have face-
to-
face classes
in schools in small towns in those provinces.
San Juan and Catamarca had started, but they backed off due to the increase in infections.
Santiago del Estero, which was scheduled to start, also canceled the schedule.
Back to school in San Juan Jazmín Frías Sixth grade, Normal school, Caucete municipality.
The City of Buenos Aires, meanwhile, proposed a return to “digital spaces” within schools for some 6,500 students who lost all contact with the school.
The Buenos Aires unions expressed their opposition.
The City presented the protocol to the national Ministry of Education, but the latter rejected it.