The vice president of the confederation of federations of associations of parents of students of the Canary Islands (Confapa), Eusebio Dorta, warned this Wednesday that families see the start of the school year with "fear and uncertainty" given that the protocols are still not clear.
In statements to Europa Press, he expressed his desire to participate directly in the preparation of the measures, something that they will transfer to Councilor Manuela Armas next Monday in a videoconference that is scheduled with the entire educational community, and where they will also focus on extracurricular activities and dining services.
"Fifteen days seems like a lot of time but it is nothing with the evolution of the pandemic", he highlights, stressing that the basic objective is for education to be face-to-face, but also "with a plan b" digital in case health circumstances worsen.
Given the current context of doubts and "misinformation", the different AMPAs of Tenerife will meet on September 2 to unify criteria and a lawyer will be made available to families on September 7 to resolve issues related to parents who do not want to take their children to schools.
Dorta also comments that psychological counseling will be given and the AMPAs want to know what legal repercussions there are if a student is not enrolled, given that education is compulsory from the age of six, or there is a contagion in a class.
Along those lines, he attributes to the Ministry of Education that there has been a lack of information and although he has no doubt that "they have worked intensely" throughout the summer, it seems that "everything is up in the air" and there is a "collective fear." "We don't want this to be like lentils, there is the protocol", he indicates.
Dorta gives as an example the protocols that have been designed in hotels, where the incidence of coronavirus has been very low. "We know that the situation is difficult, but when we go to a hotel we know that there is a protocol", he points out.
Regarding the possibility that classes will be digital again, he believes that the proposal to acquire 30,000 computer equipment "may be sufficient for the most serious cases" and proposes the installation of web cameras in the classrooms so that children in quarantine or on leave due to another illness can follow the classes "instead of waiting at home watching cartoons for a classmate to pass them the homework."
"I don't know how it hasn't been done yet", he lamented, as it would allow semi-attendance classes in shifts, as well as the transfer of public spaces by the town halls in centers that are overcrowded. "And this does not imply an overspending", he explains.
Along those lines, he has demanded the reduction of ratios because "the fewer students there are, the better, because there is also more possibility of tracking."
Therefore, Dorta asks Education to end "improvisation and experiments", because "there is nothing new to invent", but to see what has worked in other countries that have resumed the return to the classrooms and not insist "on a system that does not have the appropriate result."
The president of the Federation of AMPAS Galdós, which brings together the associations of mothers and fathers of students of the island of Gran Canaria, Sergio de la Fe, expressed himself in similar terms last week, who confessed to being "a little pessimistic" with the start of the course and warned of a "debacle" if they do not return to the classrooms.
In addition, he warned that the pandemic "has brought to light things that were under the spotlights" and that "were not" able to see, among which he cited a "galloping" digital divide, families in need of help, children who eat alone in dining rooms and minors with special needs.
