Education sets dates for back to school with 100% capacity for 4.3 million students

Dates between November and December 2021 and January 2022 propose the Ministry of Education for the staggered return with capacity to 100% and by levels to face-to-face classes, based on the vaccination process against the coronavirus.

The Minister of Education, María Brown Pérez, mentioned that the November 22th with technical high school degrees and in rural areas so that they can continue with their face-to-face pre-professional practices. For Galapagos there will be no distinction between urban and rural but the totality.

A second group I would return on December 6 and corresponds to the rest of high school (urban) and higher basic education.

The third group would be that of students from initial to basic education (from 5 years to 11 years), the January 17 of 2022.

In total they would be 4′314.777 students that they would go back to the classrooms.

He indicated that the dates have been set at least 15 days after major holidays so that it can be identified if there is an outbreak of infections and contain it.

Brown recalled that the voluntary return plan to classes, since last June 7, which includes more than 670,000 students with reduced capacity, which means 7,855 educational institutions nationwide (48%), that is, they have a permit to use the facilities.

In the more than 670,000 students have been presented 31 cases of COVID-19 in different educational units.

“The mandatory return to presence It is given for educational institutions, that is, educational institutions have an operating permit and in their permit they request authorization to work either in face-to-face, blended or distance mode, or in some cases they can request the extension of their modalities to be able to offer more than one (…) once we, by levels, progress towards full capacity, it is the institutions that must provide this service to families and families can choose the type of modality, which may be a distance modality in specialized educational institutions … ”, he said at a press conference this Tuesday.

According to Brown, return in person will be optional.

Brown argued that those who are currently going in person they will continue in the same way.

He added that they will remain biosafety measures, such as use of a mask, hand washing, staggered and differentiated use of spaces of common use such as patios, activities in closed and ventilated spaces; The protocols for school feeding will continue to be applied and the protocols for the use of school transportation will be updated.

There will be a protocol for families with students with catastrophic or aggravating illnesses. In private and public educational institutions where there is a student who wants to return to the presence but cannot do so due to medical recommendations, he / she can reach an agreement with the educational entity to keep him at a distance.

In the case of prosecutors, those who wish to remain in distance education will have to make a request to transfer to a distance education educational unit.

Non-mandatory uniforms

He noted that the uniform will not be mandatory in the 2021-2022 school year and the lists of school supplies are maintained.

“These 600,000 students who are attending in person, in these reduced capacity, reduce their stress, reduce anxiety, improve their academic performance… ”, argued Brown, on the initiative to return to a full capacity.

Coronavirus infections increase in the country, according to government authorities; they call to get vaccinated

While the Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón, He pointed out that they have seen practically no contagions after the gradual beginning of face-to-face activities or at work or in the resumption of classes progressively.

“We have not seen an increase in infections in the increase of the occupational capacity within the works, people are not contagious. It is contagious in closed places in which the masks are removed, for example, in restaurants, in discotheques or at concerts or other massive events … ”Garzón said in a radio interview.

The head of Health added that they will make sure that those teachers who go to face-to-face classes are vaccinated and those who are not complete it before starting classes. Also, that the students are too.

The epidemiological situation and the state of the school infrastructure will be decisive in defining the obligation to return to face-to-face classes.

According to the official, as of January 2022, 100% of the classes will be face-to-face once at the end of December 85% of the population is vaccinated.

For its part, National Union of Educators (UNE)In a letter sent to the Minister of Education, María Brown Pérez, he asked her several questions about the face-to-face return, among them: what is the educational and pedagogical proposal with which they are going to return? With what teacher training? Are the schools and colleges ready with all the necessary guarantees and supplies?

The National Emergency Operations Committee (COE) will make a decision on the proposal of the Ministry of Education of the face-to-face return next week.