The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, together with the regional ministers of Education and Health, Manuela de Armas and Blas Trujillo, respectively, presented this Thursday the prevention and organization protocol for face-to-face activity for the 2020-2021 academic year due to the coronavirus, in which each school is urged to have a contingency plan according to some guidelines, which is why it has been decided to postpone the start of face-to-face classes to September 15 instead of September 9.
This was stated by the Minister of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands during the press conference in which the most important aspects of the protocol were announced, although all those involved have clarified that it is a "living" document, since it will depend on how the virus behaves in the Canary Islands territory and whether there is a vaccine to combat it ahead of time.
De Armas stressed that the protocol was created to provide security for both teachers, families and students, as well as face-to-face attendance are basic objectives of the Government of the Canary Islands and based on this, a series of guidelines have been set out to which the contingency plans of each school will have to adhere.
Regarding the start of classes on September 15 for Infant and Primary, while on September 16 and 17 Secondary and the rest of the teachings will do so, respectively, she explained that this was chosen in order to give schools space to prepare for this "different, complicated" start of the course, but in which, she stressed, "everything" that the regional Executive has in its "hands will be put in place so that the children, families and teachers are safe."
She also believes that after five months out of the classrooms "it is time to return", hence the "main objective is face-to-face attendance", although she warns that it can be "sacrificed" at some point. Even so, she stated that "adjustments" have to be made in the teaching centers to "consider those safe spaces."
Covid-19 Responsible
For his part, the Canarian Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo, admitted that the return to the classrooms is one of the "most important challenges" facing Canarian society, since it involves mobilizing "more than 7,000 people directly" and to which the beginning of the high tourist season in the islands will be added, hence the protocol seeks to "give tranquility, confidence, security to students, teachers and families."
In this sense, he explained that in educational matters each school will have a contingency plan and a Covid manager, while in the health framework the health centers in each area will also have a Covid manager for coordination with their counterpart in the school, while there will be an established relationship between Primary Care and Public Health before the different case studies that will arise.
Trujillo has stressed the "great importance" this year of the vaccination campaign, as it will coincide with the return to school, while highlighting that the symptoms of the flu and Covid can overlap, so he understands that there must be "rapid response capacity to be able to attend to" the situations and cases that occur.
The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, for his part, stressed that this start of the course "is very important" and in fact advanced that it will be one of the issues to be discussed at the Conference of Presidents that is intended to be held next week in Madrid, in which the issue of European funds will also be discussed.
Torres wanted to emphasize that the protocol "responds to the criteria" from the educational and health area, in addition to the analysis that the scientific committee of the Canarian Government has carried out on it.
Shifts and extracurricular activities
The protocol states that the entry shifts are established by each center in its contingency plan according to a standard plan, although the Canarian Minister of Education clarified that the "fundamental thing is that there are no crowds."
Regarding extracurricular activities, he has admitted that "they will be avoided as much as possible" and if they are carried out, they will have the same protocol as any other that is not; while the dining rooms are normally carried out in shifts and it will depend on whether or not the safety distance can be maintained in order to adapt another area.
On the other hand, he explained that several models are being considered regarding the use of spaces, since in the case of Secondary it is expected that there will be a double shift, morning and afternoon, while for those centers where there is not enough space for all students, the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (Fecam) has made available to Education the available spaces and pointed out that they will study, whenever necessary, the possibility of those that are always close to the centers to avoid transfers of students.
De Armas has emphasized that the safety of the classrooms is established, "always" under the recommendation of health, in the case of Infant and Primary with stable groups and the tutor --or the necessary specialist who will have to wear a mask--, which will also occur for recesses where there will be limited areas; while from Secondary onwards the distance of 1.5 meters must be maintained inside the classrooms and the use of masks once you get up from the table.
Regarding the need for staff to be hired, he admits that it is around 3,000 teachers, although this is information that is yet to be adjusted because the infrastructures are being analyzed.
Finally, it was pointed out that when a suspicious case occurs, the Covid manager of the center isolates the child, calls the family and the Covid telephone number that follows the entire procedure like any other case.
The extraordinary funds allocate about 90 million euros to the Canary Islands for education for the year 2020.
