• Education Celaá's guide for the next year: more students per classroom, masks and recesses without 'bubbles'

  • Education Several autonomies are committed to consolidating the reduction of students per classroom in the face of the increase in Celaá ratios

The Government and the CCAA have agreed this Thursday to set the ratios of students per classroom that existed before the pre-pandemic situation, with a maximum of

25

students in Infant and Primary,

30

in ESO and

35

in Baccalaureate. Now the limit was

20

students in Infant and in the first two years of Primary. All the teachers' unions are unanimously opposed to this rise and in the communities there is a disparity of plans to face the return to the classroom.

The Ministers of Education and Health, Isabel Celaá and Carolina Arias, have met this afternoon in

La Moncloa

with the regional representatives to close the prevention and hygiene measures against Covid-19 for the next academic year. The meeting, within the framework of the

Education Sector Conference

, was held this time much earlier than last year, when no final decisions were made, after many lurching, until the last day of August. At the time, the epidemiological situation was still very uncertain, but this year the Government works under the premise that by summer

70%

of the population

will be vaccinated

. That is why he wants to return to normality as much as possible, while maintaining certain precautions.

Together with the increase in ratios, the idea is that students continue like this course in groups with stable coexistence or

bubbles

in Infant and Primary, although in

5th

and

6th

of this stage they will be able to substitute these groups for a simple distance of

1.2

meters , which is the one that they will also have to save in ESO and Baccalaureate, where there are no

bubbles

.

The safety distance, which this year has been

1.5 meters

, is reduced from the next course to 1.2 meters

in these courses to allow more students to enter per classroom and, therefore, achieve maximum attendance.

After preparing five drafts, the document with the measures has been accepted as good "without any objection from the communities," according to the sources consulted. The regions have shared the X-ray of the situation of the central government and have accepted the preventive measures, although they have trusted that each one will apply them "according to their situation based on the competences they have."

This latest draft, to which EL MUNDO has had access, has hardly undergone any changes. It has only been indicated that the indication of a change in alert level will be established by the health authority of the autonomous community for each province or, it has now been added, "for the territorial level that it decides." It has also now been specified that the distance will be 1.2 meters between VET students only in a "low transmission" scenario. And, in response to what the Community of Madrid was asking for, the recommendation not to make a generalized purchase of carbon dioxide meters by educational centers has been changed to a less taxable suggestion.

During the meeting, Celaá insisted on the need to increase investments by teachers and teaching staff to "strengthen" the weight of education on the national GDP.

But the teachers are against it.

"We cannot go back and increase the number of students per class; the reduction of ratios is an essential measure to improve the quality of education. In addition, we do not understand what is the scientific endorsement for the reduction of the distance between students of 1.5 meters at 1.2 ", has complained

Mario Gutiérrez

, responsible for Education of the

CSIF

union

.

Communities, for their part, have very different plans from each other.

There are some, such as

Extremadura

or

Cantabria

, that are going to maintain the measures like this year, while others, such as

Andalusia

, plan to "shrink" spaces and reduce distances to achieve maximum presence.

Murcia

,

Aragón

and

La Rioja

want to put a meter of distance between the students, instead of 1.2.

Catalonia

and La Rioja will lower the ratios.

These are other agreed points:

MASKS

Children will have to continue wearing masks, both in open and closed spaces, from the age of six, and regardless of the safety distances or whether or not they are in a coexistence group.

Teachers will also have to carry them.

Hygienic masks are recommended and, if possible, reusable.

RECREATIONS

Another of the main novelties is that, in the foreseeable scenario of a "new normal", stable groups may be broken at recess and in sports activities so that children from different classes and different groups can interact together again.

Physical Education

classes, of course

, will be held abroad whenever possible.

And, if there is no choice but to organize them inside, they must be with masks, more distances and a lot of ventilation.

WITHOUT CLOUDS

To avoid crowds, the staggered entrances and exits that have been organized this course will be maintained.

The students will not move around the institutes, but it will be the teachers who come to the classroom.

Meetings or assemblies of teachers will be avoided and it will be tried that they are all by videoconference.

The position regarding parental visits is the same as this course: families will only be allowed to enter if the teachers and the principal so consider it.

If they want to speak with the tutor, they will have to do so by phone, email or telematic means.

FOOTBALL TOURNAMENTS

This course, the public was not allowed to attend sporting events and school celebrations.

Now they are made possible, although they will be done "in the open air and under the same conditions as their counterparts at the community level."

The dining room and the support activities for students with difficulties continue, as they have been this year.

MORE VENTILATION

The draft of the next course is stricter in terms of ventilation, which it recommends doing "if possible permanently", when the standards approved last August spoke of ventilating "frequently".

Filters or air purifiers are allowed but the widespread purchase of carbon dioxide meters is not recommended.

On the other hand, with the cleaning of the toilets there is greater laxity and it will no longer be necessary to disinfect them three times a day, but twice.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Isabel Celaá

  • Coronavirus

  • Secondary education

  • Education

EducationCelaá's guide for the next year: more students per classroom, masks and recesses without 'bubbles'

EducationCelaá will propose to the CCAA that masks, distance and 'bubble groups' be kept in schools next year

Spain The Government now allows 5th and 6th Primary students to not be in 'bubbles' and keep 1.2 meters away

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