March 1st. That is the date recorded by fire in the Ministry of Education to return to face-to-face classes. The head of the Mineduc, Raúl Figueroa, has stated that despite the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic continues with high rates of contagion and several communes of the country are still in quarantine, the conditions to return to the classrooms are, which has been supported by the Government. Moreover, the Executive has even asked the College of Teachers for help to meet this deadline.
The aforementioned, however, insist that this return, although it may occur in 2021, it is impossible for it to occur on March 1. This was stated by the president of the College of Teachers, Carlos Díaz, who said that the union has “no problem returning to classes”, but that this occurs at a later date. “The pandemic has brought situations that from an educational perspective will bring certain problems, there is nothing to replace the face-to-face class, nothing. That is why the return has to be done well (…) It has to be done in conjunction with the families, the families are essential, if the parents do not want to send their children to school, we will not have face-to-face returns, ”he told DNA radio .
Along these lines, he added that returning to classes “is not an issue that one does not want to discuss, but I say that we agree with the educational communities because the great absentees on this issue have been the educational communities, on this issue we must speak with those affected (…) what we talk about is the form and the methods. We all took one path and the only one who took another path was the authority, we can talk if the logic for it exists, but not under the logic of imposition ”.
Díaz also criticized Minister Raúl Figueroa’s management: “The strategy has been completely wrong during the past year and nothing has been learned, we continue with the same. We have always stated that given the conditions that there is no possibility of contagion, our communities are available ”. He said the same in a more critical way in another interview conducted in T13: “The minister (of Education) absolutely failed in the strategy and in the way he tried to carry out the process of returning to face-to-face classes last year.”
I’m back … but on April 15
The mayors are also in favor of the face-to-face return to classes. But, like the teachers’ union, they are not very in line with it being March 1. In fact, they propose another date, supported in a transversal way: April 15.
This date, they explain, because all teachers will already be vaccinated against Covid-19, which would not happen for March 1. “Under this logic that they are not all vaccinated, and that we have vaccination centers (in schools), let’s leave on March 1 at a distance, but open our classrooms, to begin slowly and gradually to return in a normal way, on the 15 April, “Bernardo Vásquez (UDI), the mayor of Pelarco and president of the Education Commission of the Chilean Association of Municipalities, told Radio Cooperativa.
This, according to Vásquez, has already been raised with Minister Figueroa, who in the opinion of the communal chief “has every intention and desire to take this issue forward for the good of Chilean education, and I hope that this dialogue that is beginning to take place is a bridge so that the Ministry also accepts this proposal that we are making, which is quite transversal. This is not only for a specific group. “
“If we leave on April 15, we also have the possibility of making a special segment for carriers or public transportation, which also have direct contact,” he closed.
The voice of the proxies
In this context, the survey “Life in a Pandemic” was known, prepared by researchers from the University of Chile, which revealed that 64% of parents and guardians condition the attendance of their children to face-to-face classes by having the Covid vaccine -19.
There are differences by type of establishment: those who raised the condition of the vaccine reached 67% in municipal schools and 68% in subsidized private schools, while the percentage reaches 52% in paid individuals.
At the same time, the study reveals a problem of trust towards the authority, since only 19% believe that the Government is adapting the schools in the public system so that students can return to classes and at the same time prevent them from being infected.
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