Planning a ‘peculiar’ school year
Huge sum mobilised to make education safe
THE REGIONAL government’s plans for the upcoming school year, currently expected to start on September 7, have been announced by education councillor Vicent Marzà.
He said they had mobilised €207 million ‘to prepare and adapt to any hypothetical changes of scenario that may arise’.
Regional education secretary Miquel Soler remarked that ‘the year will be very peculiar and will have to be adapted to any context that depends on the evolution of the pandemic’.
The investments include hiring additional teaching staff, additional funding for all public schools’ running costs, acquisition of safety and hygiene equipment, and implementation of digitalisation, explained Sr Marzà.
A total of 4,374 extra teachers are being taken on, of whom 1,670 will be for Alicante province, making a total of over 76,000 region-wide.
Each school will get at least one teacher more, he said.
The education department has also worked with school directors to organise their space and personnel requirements to comply with the health authorities’ measures, which include distancing and setting up reduced social groups who can mix more closely (grupos de convivencia).
During July, the education department has carried out deep disinfections of all the region’s secondary and Bachillerato
centres and acquired signage materials for schools worth €4.6 million.
It has also bought almost three million reusable face masks and over 86,000 litres of hand sanitiser gel for schools.
For digitalisation, schools will get 29,000 tablets with internet connections, and they are planning to acquire more technological materials and provide teachers with training in information and communications technology.
Organisation of classes
For nursery age children (0-3), there will be a period of adaptation over the first few weeks, with staggered times for parents to drop off children and reduced groups of four or five pupils.
Those in the second stage of infant education (3-6) and the first two years of primary education will be in stable groups of up to 20 pupils.
Stable groups will also be established for the third and fourth year of primary education, but if the school has space they can set up variable groups with other children, as long as they can all keep 1.5 metres apart from each other.
The stable groups have been designed so that children of these ages can socialise better, since they are unlikely to be able to maintain social distancing.
The health authorities also believe this will make it easier to trace and manage any possible infections.
Children in years 5 and 6 of primary education are more mature so in general should be able to maintain the 1.5m minimum distance from each other in classes. Likewise, all secondary education, Bachillerato and professional training (FP) classes will apply 1.5m distancing, and if schools do not have enough space for this pupils will have to attend on alternate days.
The ‘immense majority’ of schools have been able to organise classes in this way at their own facilities but ‘in a few cases’ will also be using municipal premises.