Sick and filed for not taking her son to school: "If he brings the virus, it could be lethal for me"

Graciela invests much of her energy in fighting a serious and advanced disease, but now she has been forced to give up a little of what she has left for another battle: that of administrative abandonment.

This mother residing in Pontevedra suffers from a pathology whose treatment causes immunosuppression.

With this in mind, his doctors gave him a certificate recommending that the school where his nine-year-old son Gael is studying should seek alternatives to face-to-face education.

However, despite the fact that the mother delivered the medical document to the center, the Praza de Barcelos has opened a record of truancy to the family.

“If my son brings the virus from school, it could be lethal for me.

It's not that they make my life difficult, they make it painful for me, ”laments Graciela.

The Xunta de Galicia admits that it is not the only case of families with members vulnerable to covid-19 that has been filed for not taking children to class and has created provincial commissions to review them.

The 49-year-old Graciela's drama began with the school year, in September.

The mother was forced to swim against the current in the Administration river for fear of a course that she considers unsafe and that began amid protests and protocol changes.

First he spoke with the directive of his educational center, who raised the query to the inspector of the area.

He assures that when he did not receive a response, he located the inspector, who urged him to seek a solution with the school until the Ministry of Education found a common solution for all families with similar problems.

However, according to the mother, the management of the center did not receive any instructions to endorse the special treatment and was forced to open the file.

The little boy studies at home without any kind of telematic attention from the center.

For Graciela, the conditions in which her son is studying are inexplicable.

The telematic education means of the Ministry of Education should be launched only when classrooms close, but not in individual cases.

He does not hide his surprise and disappointment at a situation that he considers "unfair": "We only ask that you assess the harsh situation our family is going through, with my illness in an advanced stage."

The tutor of her son, says the mother, considers that the minor, enrolled in the Primary fourth, does not suffer any special learning difficulties and that to pass the course it would be enough if he could follow the classes at a distance.

Graciela has decided to fight against the file that has been opened to her.

He has filed a complaint with the Valedora do Pobo de Galicia, the equivalent institution to the Ombudsman, because the Xunta's truancy protocol establishes absences due to serious illness of a family member in the first degree as justified and provides each center with the capacity to assess exceptional circumstances.

The BNG, which has taken the case to the Galician Parliament, estimates that only in the province of Pontevedra at least 60 families are suffering the same problem as Gael's mother.

The Xunta published a week ago the creation of provincial commissions to review absenteeism cases that have arisen this course.

Manuel Lourenzo, BNG Education spokesperson, considers this step unnecessary because legal support for families with vulnerable members already exists, he maintains.

He asks Education to unify the criteria for cases that have medical justification: "There are families that have much more lax solutions and whose children can be evaluated and others that are abandoned, all according to the criteria of the center."

Sources from the Ministry of Education clarify that the commissions will review absenteeism situations that originate from covid-19 and whose justification is not entirely clear or generates doubts.

However, no order with criteria has been presented for schools to assess whether the justifications are valid.

The Xunta insists on the importance of reviewing the particularities of each case to find a solution that always guarantees the child's right to education.

The measure of the Galician Government comes several months after the start of classes and the claims of families from all over Spain in this same or similar situation.

In September, the State Attorney's Office presented a report clarifying that in these cases it should prevail that minors attend class, but at the same time it suggests reviewing the circumstances of each student.

Jose Luis Cembrano, spokesman for the Spanish Association of Family Lawyers, agrees: "It is necessary to find the best solution for each circumstance."

He insists that it will not always be distance education, since the needs of each child must be assessed.

In the midst of the crossed visions and the lack of concrete measures, the life of Graciela's family has changed little since March.

His routine is similar to what he had during the confinement of the first wave.

She receives her treatment every 21 days and her son Gael follows the same schedule as his classmates, but with the support at home of his mother and his uncle, who is a primary school teacher.

In the afternoons, the boy goes for a walk with his father.

All while waiting for a solution that seems unattainable in the short term and that allows the center's own tutor to guide and evaluate the child's progress.

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