By Bertrand Prévost
Published on
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It is difficult to have the exact figures, at the moment, of the wind of contamination that the world of education is going through in French Polynesia, but the upswings are starting to become worrying through the testimonies of teachers and parents of students. The teachers are absent, the students are sent to other classes and no instructions have been given from the ministry, the vice-rectorate or the directorate general of education and teaching (DGEE) to parents who are wondering if they still have to send their children to school.
Yesterday, some schools were recording almost half of their teachers absent. In other schools, almost a third of the students were missing. A tense situation that must be managed but which does not make the Ministry of Education panic, nor the unions, who both have their eyes on the hospitalization figures, the only real indicator of the dangerousness of the Omicron variant in French Polynesia.
“Teachers, like students, will be absent for seven days if they contract Covid “, explained yesterday Thierry Delmas, chief of staff of the Ministry of Education. “We are aware of the feedback that is beginning to reach us and we are making a daily point, but at the moment only classes with too many absentees are closed. A healthy child, in a class where the teacher is present, must go to school. »
15 days truncated
According to our information, trainees in training are called to the rescue in primary schools to make up for teacher absences. Of course, the Papeete-Pirae-Arue urban area is currently the most affected. The establishments of the Peninsula, those of the other archipelagos or those of Punaauia seem to be, for the moment, spared by this wave of contamination that affects teachers and students alike.
“At the moment, we are in this logic of closing classes”, continued Thierry Delmas. “At the rate of the spread, the risks are being assessed, but the signs are encouraging since there are very few hospitalizations. If these numbers were to move, action would certainly be taken. »
The school is therefore going through what private companies are also going through since the issuance of sick leave is multiplying. For the time being, the hypothesis of anticipating the school holidays at the end of February, if it has been mentioned, has not been retained. Also no changes in the protocols in the classroom or in the canteen.
It is a rare fact that the trade unions are also on this course of action. “We are waiting for data,” a member of UNSA-Polynesia explained yesterday. “There was a meeting yesterday (Monday, editor’s note) with the minister and the vice-rector. The chief of staff was at the office of the High Commissioner. We are waiting for the numbers and looking at the hospitalizations. If it starts to rise again like in August… then we will have to take other measures. The university is also affected. Of the 14 staff absent last week, there are 29 this week. »
As we have understood, everyone is about to turn their backs to get through this new epidemic episode, with two weeks that are likely to be truncated for students who will, at best, have revision days, before the holidays of February 18. And all this, not to mention daycare centers, which, too, are beginning to be disturbed by the absences of their staff, or children.
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