Government pushes new protocol to have classes three times a week in schools

After specifying that it will give priority to the return of face-to-face classes at the DNU with which it extended the preventive and compulsory social distancing (DISPO) until February 28, the Government pushes a new protocol to regulate the return to class and common regulations in all jurisdictions.

After the opposition offensive for the return of the presence, the executive seeks to regain control of the educational agenda.

In 12 days, the Federal Council of Education, which brings together zone ministers from across the country, will hold the first face-to-face meeting since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic almost a year ago.

The Minister of Education, Nicolás Trotta, who in the coming days will end his tour across the country to hear the plans of the governors of the 24 districts, is advancing on the draft of a “national” protocol to establish control systems and flexibility. This week he will meet with Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the head of government of the city, the first district that plans to restore presence.

So far, the 24 jurisdictions are governed by the protocol that the Federal Council prepared last July and with the “traffic light” that it implemented in October. In the first resolution (364/2020), the WHO considered face-to-face lessons as one of the main vectors of contagion.

With this approach, a protocol was approved excessively restrictive, which Trotta now aims to improve.

In government, they intend to promote classes three times a week. “It is not a re-engagement, but the indispensable return of classes”they claim. In any case, they intend to restrict or regulate the work of teachers who teach in more than one school; many of which are geographically distant from each other.

Another issue that the Federal Council will deal with will be how to unify the educational content of 2020 and 2021 to avoid a deeper gap in 2022. At Pizzurno Palace, they insist that the setting up of face-to-face lessons began to be orchestrated in November with the document A las aulas.

The scene has changed. At that time in government – optimistic with what they saw in Europe – they imagined a summer with far fewer cases of Covid-19. After the surge in infections in early January, the government is not so negative about the current average of nearly 9,000 reported infections per day.

“We are building a process that allows us to build presence in general. The whole educational system engaged in the recovery of presence, which is not a magical response but is an irreplaceable element. There is no room for hypocrisy. The situation was very complex before the pandemic“Trotta said before consulting Bugle.

The allusion appears to be directed at the leaders of Ensemble pour le changer who supported the request for a return to presence.

In the executive, they argue that it is wrong to say that Argentina gave up attendance in 2020 despite the fact that classes were interrupted on March 15, before quarantine was declared. They only came back very quickly with pilot experiences in some jurisdictions towards the end of the school year. They note that countries in the region such as Bolivia, Paraguay and Mexico have taken the decision to stop face-to-face classes for good.

In the executive, they remember that it was an opposition governor, Gerardo Morales de Jujuy, the first to suspend face-to-face classes.

They also reject that public opinion has rewarded the opposition for pushing the demand for a return to class. The surveys they consume in Cabinet show that educational policy is also crossed by the crack: it is approved or rejected according to the affinity or the rejection of the respondents by the government.

To the government, they indicate that if there is a significant increase in infections, other activities will be suspended, but they will try to support face-to-face classes with all means. The million students who, according to official figures, have lost contact with schools are worrying.

In the executive, they do not see an experience from another country that could serve as an example for Argentina. French Education Minister Jean Castex, who speaks Spanish, told Trotta about his country’s experience.

The former Buenos Aires lawmaker and rector of Umet does not believe that building improvements can help create conditions more conducive to distancing. However, and although it is an obligation of each district, the government directly provides up to $ 50,000 to schools to purchase cleaning supplies. They also transferred $ 2.3 billion to guarantee access to water in some schools.

Trotta’s tour of the provinces included contacts with the guilds. In government, they defend the decision to include teachers among the priority groups for vaccination. Joint discussions will include the discussion of the return to presence in different provinces. The government is advancing in national parity, a demand of the teachers’ unions under the administration of Mauricio Macri.

In some jurisdictions such as Neuquén, the City, Mendoza and Chubut, among others, the position of the unions could hamper the start of classes. With tension and on the way to a solution, the same discussion is repeated in Santa Cruz, Chaco and Tierra del Fuego.