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  • Protocol. Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque Country reject the measures to return to Isabel Celaá's classrooms
  • Protocol. Back to school protocol: students will teach in the park, eat in the classroom and there will be a 'Covid-19 team' in each school

In planning the return to classrooms for September, there is an open conflict between teachers and regional governments on account of the security protocol against Covid-19. The former require that the number of students per classroom be reduced to prevent possible contagion. The latter warn that this measure will involve creating new groups, enabling other spaces and hiring more staff, with the organizational and budgetary difficulties that all this entails. In between is the Minister Isabel Celaá, who has tried to combine the interests of both, but who, after her meeting on Thursday with the regional councilors, has unleashed the teachers' rebellion. It is the war of ratios.

The unions say that they have attended "stupefied" this week to the relaxation of Celaá in terms of interpersonal distance (from two to 1.5 meters ); students per teacher (from 15 to 20 ); use of masks (excluding children under 10 years ), and attendance of all children at school (there will no longer be semi-attendance). They accuse the minister of "having yielded to regional pressure" and not guaranteeing a new course "in full security conditions."

Especially since the reduction of students per classroom has been left in the air. Celaá herself said on Thursday, after the Sector Conference , that the ratios will continue to be the same because they are those established by law: "25, 30 and 35 students (depending on the stages)." She assured that what she raises - stressing very much that it is a recommendation that does not bind the CCAA at all - are "stable groups of coexistence" of a maximum of 20 students in charge of an adult. The "groups" are a euphemism to avoid mentioning the "ratios", a taboo word that causes rejection of the CCAA.

"We don't care what you call it, whether ratios or groups of coexistence," says Maribel Loranca , from UGT . "What we fear is that in the protocol that the Government has promised to work with the CCAA, security measures, such as ratios, will be lowered. We are concerned that it is intended to return to normality to educational centers with minimal cost.

"There is not enough money"

The background of the war is economic. If the student groups are reduced, more teachers must be hired. The Government has put 2,000 million euros on the table to distribute with the universities. The unions calculate that it would take between 3,600 and 5,000 million, so it does not find the state money. The autonomies will have to put more.

UGT, CCOO , STES , CSIF and Anpe are very upset with the minister. They want me to "shield" the lowering of ratios in the law, in the same way that the Government has done with the interpersonal distance of 1.5 meters: including it in a royal decree of obligatory compliance for all.

«Distance and ratios must be combined when returning to the classroom. "Celaá's agreement with 15 directors has been of very few things and there should be a clear regulation", warns Francisco García , of CCOO. His opinion is that "the security conditions must be the same for everyone in this country, with criteria that are applicable by the autonomies as a whole." It is the same as Mario Gutiérrez , from CSIF. The ratios war has united the sentiments of all the unions.

"The teachers want to have certainties, we are very concerned. Why don't students under 10 have to meet social distance and older ones do? ”Asks Nicolás Fernández Guisado , from Anpe.

Harder is José Ramón Merino , from STES, who reproaches Celaá for his "inconsistency", his "swings" and his "lack of leadership". «The minister says one thing and the next day another. The Sector Conference has been disappointing and the Government has washed its hands, passing the responsibility to the autonomies, which, in turn, will refer them to the centers. The responsibility is in office ».

Message from the rectors to Castells

The president of the Crue, José Carlos Gómez Villamandos , replied yesterday to Minister Manuel Castells that he cannot renounce attendance, especially in practical teaching. Castells, unlike Celaá, is committed to a system of rotating shifts: some students at home and others in class. But the rectors are opposed. "It cannot be that the student's first contact with the university is telematic," warned José Carlos Gómez Villamandos.

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