Face-to-face classes are suspended in the 193 cantons that are at a red light for a week, announced the Minister of Education

This Sunday the 16th, the national Emergency Operations Committee (COE) established a health traffic light system by cantons due to its situation in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

María Brown, Minister of Education, announced that face-to-face classes will be suspended this week in the 193 cantons of the country that are at a red light, whose situation is at greater risk.

The class modality will be telematic in these locations, at all levels of education.

Brown indicated that in the 26 cantons that are at a yellow traffic light, students will be able to go to educational establishments only with the authorization of their families, respecting biosecurity measures and presenting the complete vaccination schedule with the two doses during this week.

The rest of the students will continue with distance education, said the minister.

In the two cantons that are at a green traffic light, return to face-to-face classes will be allowed with reduced capacity and abiding by biosecurity protocols. “A distancing of 1.5 meters, that is, a calculated area of ​​​​2.25 square meters per person to maintain social distance,” said Brown.

Extracurricular activities may be held with a capacity of 75%. In addition, in these locations, students will not be required to present the coronavirus vaccination card to enter their educational establishments.

The blended modality will be applied at all levels except initial education for children under five years of age.

Brown indicated that these measures will be applied in all private, fiscal, municipal and fiscomisional institutions at the national level according to health traffic lights.

“We call on all citizens so that the recommendations made by the COE are followed in other spaces, that they do not go to places that are not essential, that they remain distancing, that they go to get vaccinated,” said the minister.

The official stressed that educational institutions do not generate points or sources of contagion of coronavirus. “Students are also at risk because they are exposed to other places and adults who become infected and also bring the virus to the family. That is why it is important for us all to continue in a vaccination exercise to reach the complete schedule not only of one dose but of two, and the booster dose when necessary,” said Brown. (I)