The Deputy Minister of Education of the Canary Islands Government, María Dolores Rodríguez, has asked for "calm" from the parents of the Adolfo Topham school, who have started protests together with the teachers to show their concern because two students are allowed to attend the center without a mask. "The school is complying with the measures," she said, stressing that these two siblings have a medical certificate that exempts them from wearing a mask.
According to La Voz, the children, who are in first and third grade, have not yet joined the class, but this week they were finally authorized to do so. It was then that the complaints from teachers and families of the school began.
In this regard, the Deputy Minister defends the protocol established for these cases, which implies that those students without a mask "are never in contact with the rest," neither in the classroom nor during recess. "The student has to enter at the beginning or end of the class, always accompanied by a Covid support teacher. All classrooms must be ventilated and that child must be separated from the group, even separated by a screen if necessary, and if not, with a measure of two meters. And they have to be in their place, without moving," she explains.
Regarding recess, she details that "they have to go out first or last," also accompanied by that Covid teacher. "Once there, they have to be controlled, because they cannot come into contact with the rest," she adds, stressing that these measures were already established since last year.
In the case of these students, last year they did attend the center with a mask, but at the beginning of this cycle their parents claimed that they could not wear it. Then they were not allowed to enter the school, indicating that they should provide a medical certificate. Later, once the course had started, they presented one, based on which it has finally been authorized that the two siblings can attend without a mask.
However, this has aroused suspicion in other families, who claim that the father of the minors expressed ideas similar to those spread by the "deniers" of the pandemic at the beginning of the course.
Regarding the cases in which access without a mask is authorized, the Deputy Minister explains that a doctor has to determine that there is "a certain pathology" or that they cannot wear it due to "special circumstances." In this last case, the case of these siblings could enter, since last year they did use it.
"Presence always prevails"
What other parents of the center were asking for is that these children receive online education so as not to "harm" the rest. Even the teachers themselves warned that the solution could not be "to guarantee the distance of those two students by harming the space of the others", since they maintained that by increasing the distance with them, "it is impossible to guarantee a meter of distance between all the students."
However, the Deputy Minister of Education maintains that in the "protocol" established "presence always prevails." In this regard, she explains that distance education is only authorized in cases of people who are especially vulnerable due to some illness, and that they must also be endorsed by their corresponding medical certificate.
In fact, she points out that last year "many families requested it and subsequently the medical committee established that that child could attend class in person, with the established measures."
In the case of these two students, what they have is a certificate from a pediatrician that exempted them from wearing a mask. "If the child has a medical certificate, they comply with the established measures. I ask for calm. We already have the experience of other schools where it has happened and the children have been complying with the measures," insists the Deputy Minister.
"I have no record that there are 27 students"
In the case of the class attended by one of the minors, there is the aggravating factor that the student ratio is already being violated, by having gathered the entire third grade level in two classrooms, as denounced by both teachers and parents. The former pointed out that there are 26 students in each one, while one of the mothers later assured that in one of the classrooms it had already reached 27.
"I have no record that there are 27 students in any of the two classrooms," said the Deputy Minister of Education in this regard, who nevertheless has not denied that the ratio is being violated, which would already be exceeded with 26.
"Sometimes groups disappear because the minimum is not reached, others are allowed due to certain characteristics and others are supported with support staff or special education, with the classrooms always supported," she defended.
Suppression of a kindergarten classroom
Regarding another complaint from teachers and parents, for the suppression of a five-year-old kindergarten classroom in the school, ten days after the start of the course, the Minister alludes to the fact that "it was considered that there could be a sudden enrollment in the month of September", which is why a forecast of three kindergarten groups was made in July.
"At the end of the term with 47 students, two groups completed the quota and one was left over. From schooling it was considered that it was not necessary to maintain it, so the center was notified and a solution was found for the teacher who was there," says the Deputy Minister, who considers that it is a case of "lack of students."
