Barcelona nursery schools rule out opening next Monday | Catalonia

The Barcelona City Council has not yet made its decision public, but several municipal nursery schools consulted by this newspaper rule out that the students return on the 8th. “It is clear that Monday will not be,” exclaims a director and argues that there are still many fringes to close. “We do not yet have the opening protocol and each school must develop its own plan to reopen,” adds another principal. Some schools are already clear on how many educators they will be able to count on – eliminating those that belong to a risk group – but the survey of families to calculate the students they will have and thus be able to prepare the spaces will be sent during the rest of the week.

Uncertainty and lack of information are troubling some families. María —fictitious name— is the mother of a two-year-old girl enrolled in a municipal nursery school in Barcelona. She prefers not to identify herself because she is outraged at the lack of information and support received during confinement. “At the end of May we received an email saying that it would open on June 8, but since then we don’t know anything else and it seems that it won’t be like that. Nor have they asked us if we are going to attend, “explains the mother. At the moment he has not decided whether to take his daughter to school. “At the beginning I was clear that no, but if there are security measures, I might consider it because the girl has made a significant setback at the level of socialization. When he goes out on the street, he hallucinates, it is as if he were in Disneyland ”, he adds.

In instructions for the reopening of nursery schools prepared by the City Council and signed by the president of the Municipal Institute of Education (IMEB), Joan Subirats, on May 29, it was admitted that with children up to three years of age “it is not always possible keep the safety distance ”nor can“ preserve the individual use of materials ”. The document planned to open from June 8 to July 15 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with dining room included. The City Council assures that “things have been changed”, but it does not specify.

Also at the end of May, the directions of the municipal nursery schools sent a letter to the City Council expressing their concerns about an imminent opening and asking to wait until September. “As long as the main criterion to prevent and protect from the virus is physical distance, schools should not open,” they requested, since the main stumbling block they see is precisely keeping this safe distance with children under three years of age. “It is not just a matter of hygienic protocol. Preventing children from coming closer will not be possible unless we make uneducative interventions or, rather, and why not say it clearly, little or not at all respectful, ”they warned in the letter. The schools also considered that the return in June “does not respond to any emotional support, nor to respect for the child, nor to any school model.”

Mayor Ada Colau has emerged as one of the main advocates of reopening schools. “To guarantee equal opportunities. For the emotional health of children. For conciliation. Because it is an essential service, it is necessary to open schools now! ”, He cried on his Twitter account on May 13, referring to the uncertainty about the opening of schools and institutes, which depend on the Generalitat.

But nursery schools are mainly municipal and the municipalities decide what to do. Many will open, but major metropolitan cities rule it out by Monday. This is the case of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, despite admitting that 17% of families have announced that they would return. “With this premise we could not respond to demand or offer a service in the best conditions,” says the City Council, which does not rule out opening later. Terrassa and Badalona have not decided (which suggests that it will not be on Monday) and Sabadell hopes to open the second half of June. Montcada i Reixac, Mollet del Vallès, Ripollet or Cerdanyola del Vallès are other large metropolitan municipalities that have also announced that they will not open.

On the other hand, the majority union Ustec announced yesterday the presentation of a contentious resource against the decision of the Generalitat to reopen the schools in June. They consider it “premature”, “dangerous” and a risk to the educational community, so they have requested precautionary measures for the immediate closure of the centers.

“Daycare is not a right”

Other municipalities in phase 2, such as Reus, have not opened nurseries either. The Councilor for Education, Daniel Recasens, assures that, after a survey, 93 families, out of a total of 424, wanted to return. The councilor considers it “low demand” and sees no “imperative need” to reopen the centers. And he adds that “carrying out the pedagogical project is difficult with security measures.” Recasens admits that this hundred families have not been offered an alternative because they do not consider it “a right”. “Nursery schools are not a right, they are a service and, in this case, we prefer to keep the service closed”, ditch.

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