Most primary schools reopen on Monday
The vast majority of primary schools will open their doors again on Monday 8 February. Compliance with all measures to ensure safety still poses a considerable challenge for education staff. "Following all the rules is not going to work."
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The number of school boards that have decided to keep schools closed has run out 'to count a hand', reports the Inspectorate of Education NU.nl. The basic principle is that as many students as possible can go to school safely. But if the GGD does not consider it safe or if a school has too few staff, the inspectorate understands this.
This is the case, for example, at primary school Het Palet in Hapert, where ten children and eight teachers became infected with the virus. 'Two colleagues are still at home with corona. But there are also colleagues who fall into the older age group and are vulnerable in their health," says director Gerard Smetsers. Omroep Brabant.
As much as he would like to open, the situation in the Southeast Brabant region is not safe enough, according to him. In addition, the measure that if one child is infected, the entire class must be quarantined, has major consequences for the school. Smetsers: 'Children are housed together in different units. In the event of an infection, I have to send more than a hundred children home immediately.'
Not workable
Schools that do open are also grappling with the new guidelines the protocol. For example, staggered start, break and end times apply to limit contact moments between parents, students and teaching staff. There is also an urgent advice to divide children from groups 4, 5 and 6 into fixed groups of five. 'This is total not workable , sighs teacher Natascha de Korte of primary school De Parakeet in The Hague BN the Voice. 'I have 28 children in a classroom of 45 square meters. I'm not even going to try.' 'Complying with all the rules at all schools is not going to work. Not all school buildings are made for that,' says Ewald van Vliet Broadcasting West. He is chairman of the board of Lucas Education, which includes more than eighty primary schools in the Haaglanden region. 'We said: What you can do as a school, you do.'
There is a lockdown, a curfew and we just go to work unprotected
For that reason, the Plateau primary schools set up IKC in Assen a line through gym classes. Director-driver Bert Dekker in the Newspaper of the North: 'Changes in changing rooms and having to disinfect all benches and appliances is too difficult. We compensate for the lack of gym class by playing outside. It's going to snow next week, we can throw snowballs and make a snowman.'
Unprotected
Due to the advance of the more contagious British variant, the to care among staff about safety at school. The AOb receives many messages from concerned members. Anja Hesselberth, teacher in group 4 of the Rope Ladder in Kaatsheuvel expressed her concerns in de Volkskrant: 'Children are more contagious than we thought. And then we will now open the schools and see what happens. That's how it feels to me. There is a lockdown, a curfew and we just go to work unprotected. I'll just stick to the fact that we didn't have many sick people at school. And luckily we have a new ventilation system. But I am concerned.'
Feeling fear during work is of course not allowed, so we don't force anyone
Many schools have an eye for the concerns of the teaching staff, it said Newspaper of the North. 'Feeling fear during work is of course not allowed, so we don't force anyone,' says board chairman Marieke Andrea of Scholengroep Opron in Groningen. 'And people who fall within the risk group, of course, don't have to teach. So it may very well be that there are classes on Monday that will still be taught online instead of at school, if there is no replacement.'
Fine
Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday in the parliamentary debate about the corona crisis that primary schools that do not open on Monday will not immediately be fined by the inspection. "But there is just a duty to education and the schools have to open at some point."
De AOb believes that the health of staff and students is a determining factor in this. The protection of employees in the protocol still had, according to the union more emphatically able. "We are pleased that many boards and schools are opting for the safety of their staff and we call on every board to do so," says Vice President Jelmer Evers. “Teachers want to teach, but it has to be responsible. This means that schools can safely open in some situations, but not in others. Or they opt for smaller groups. The situation is also fragile. Because if teachers have to be quarantined and there are no replacements, a class will still be at home.”
See here for answers to frequently asked questions about the coronavirus
Also read: 'Call AOb to schools: put the health of staff and students at the forefront'
