The Minister of Education Lucia Azzolina in an interview published on 21 August by Republic, among other things, he talked about the new benches with wheels that will be used in the classroom from the next school year to ensure the physical distancing necessary to counter the coronavirus infection (and around which there has been a lot of controversy in recent weeks). Asked whether this new type of desks is essential for the reopening of schools, the minister replied:
No, they are not essential. They are much better, however: they are smaller, functional, modern. They favor group teaching, not frontal. You can’t find us under your grandfather’s chewing gum. New furnishings lead to take care of it, as it always should.
Azzolina also said that on the question of the benches “disinformation is widespread and I fear, instrumental in sowing uncertainty and fear”. The minister explained that “two million traditional benches and 450 thousand with wheels were purchased at the precise request of the managers” within a call for tenders in which three million euros have been allocated.
– Read also: What are benches with wheels?
During the interview, the minister confirmed that on September 14 the schools will reopen to students despite the new growth of infections and recalled that “the state exams were carried out safely, no children got sick”. Azzolina then said that 11 million masks a day will be provided to schools to be used in situations where it is not possible to respect the physical distance of one meter.
Azzolina, referring to the school unions, then said that she was “faced with strenuous resistance to renewal”. On the subject of the selection of teachers, he added: «It is no mystery that the unions are against the competition with selective tests: they would like to stabilize the precarious, placing them in the role for only qualifications. But do you know what the surprise is? For 80 thousand places, a total of 570 thousand applications were received. Of these, only 64,000 are teachers with at least 36 months of service. The other 506,000 are of recent graduates or young teachers. The precarious workers have acquired rights, but young people have the right of access ”.
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