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  • Education: Celaá says that only half of the students will return to school in September if there is no vaccine

"What Celaá proposes cannot be done. With what criteria are you going to decide which 15 students return to the classroom and which ones stay at home studying online? You would need twice the staff, because the same teacher has to serve these two groups, in addition to buildings twice as large and an investment in 'software' that no one is going to do. They announce measures that are not agreed with the specialists. They cannot speak as if they were in a gathering, because every day we We raised with a new occurrence. They have to make a mature plan with more epidemiological and curricular information, because what they say is not considered. It does not pass the slightest examination. " The speaker is the Andreu Navarra teacher of Language and Literature of Barcelona. His words summarize the general sentiment of teachers and families before the announcement by the Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá, that only half of Spanish students will return to school in September if a vaccine is not found.

The author of 'Continual Devaluation' (Tusquets) is skeptical and angry at the government's "improvisation" on issues such as returning to the classroom, which generate much alarm in public opinion. So are the teachers' unions UGT, CCOO, Anpe and CSIF. And parents' associations. All of them consider that Celaá should have spoken to them before launching to make an announcement of such a draft.

"What the Ministry of Education has to do is to summon the teachers' union representative organizations to talk about all these things, it does not seem reasonable that we find out through the media," complains Francisco García, CCOO's educational manager. What could be done, in your opinion? "For the beginning of the course, an investment plan and a comprehensive health prevention plan are needed to guarantee that educational centers do not become a problem if there is a regrowth."

Maribel Loranca, from the UGT Teaching Federation, points out that "it is essential to reinforce teaching staff with the hiring of a significant number of teachers in order to make classroom and distance learning compatible" "In addition, a budgetary effort must be made to alleviate the digital divide and provide digital equipment to students and teachers who need it, as well as adapting schools to health circumstances, mainly in common spaces, "he adds.

Without further investment - which is not yet being considered - there is no chance of success, according to the unions. "Honestly, we have serious doubts about how it can be implemented. A significant budgetary effort is essential," warns Loranca.

All teachers insist that a plan is needed. Does the Ministry have it? A spokeswoman responds that it is working on it with the autonomous communities "and at the moment nothing else can be specified." The minister has no intention of appearing this week to clarify this issue that raises so many doubts. No one understands why Celaá has not waited to have the plan ready to announce and detail what the return to classrooms will be like in September. A new communication error of the Government during the pandemic.

CSIF's Mario Gutiérrez criticizes "the continuous improvisation and the repeated occurrences" of the Ministry. "You need a plan and you have to start working on it now, with material and human resources." Gutiérrez insists that a ratio reduction like the one the minister intends to undertake is impossible to tackle without increasing the workforce. "In no case can we admit that teachers double their days with face-to-face and 'online' performance at the same time, in addition to the organizational problems that this would entail."

Nicolás Fernández Guisado, Anpe, reiterates the impossibility of "demanding that the teacher who attends the classroom attend to those at home at the same time." "The measure is unfeasible. They must think of a protocol of sanitary measures for the fulfillment of all the requirements and a digitization plan that can reach all the students next year so that the deficits that we have had to face this course".

Parents are also very concerned with the measure, and not only because of the difficulties it creates in reconciling work and professional life, but because "it affects the safety and health of the students." Pedro Caballero, president of the National Catholic Confederation of Parents and Students (Concapa), asks Celaá that "instead of sending these unfortunate probe balloons, agree to start the course with the educational community."

Meanwhile, the director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, sees correct the proposal of Education to limit the number of children per class, but has asked that this interpersonal distance is also guaranteed during the time in which the minors are in the yards.

"What interests us is to guarantee that any group or group maintains adequate distances. While they are in class there will be someone to watch, but we will also have to guarantee that" that distance is maintained in the courtyard, "he warned.

Of course, he pointed out that not all Spanish classrooms are prepared and are spacious enough. "If we put 15 children in a class that usually fits 15, we don't solve the problem."

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  • CCOO
  • Isabel Celaá
  • UGT
  • Fernando Simón
  • Education
  • society
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
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