General

Rutte confirms: Secondary schools will open completely

After the summer holidays, secondary school pupils are allowed to go to school all week as usual. AObdirector Henrik de Moel: “This is a logical decision. Distance education and physical classes are not sustainable in the long term. "

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Picture: National government

"I have positive news to report today. As of July 1, we can do more than previously thought," said Prime Minister Rutte during his last corona press conference for now. MBOs, colleges and universities can also extend teaching times, because students are allowed to travel during rush hour again. However, these settings must adhere to the XNUMX meter distance rule.

The news that secondary schools will be allowed to open completely was leaked earlier this week. Now the final confirmation followed. Secondary schools will be allowed to open completely as of July 1, but it is not the intention that schools that do not yet have a summer holiday by that date, change everything again. "It is logical that this will take effect after the summer," said Rutte.

Easing away school students

Since June 2, secondary schools have been partly open on the basis of the one and a half meter rule. At the moment, students still have to keep their distance, among themselves and from teaching staff. In practice, students are only present at school one day a week or a few times a week in order to maintain that distance. The cabinet is now releasing the distance rule between students. Rutte: "Logically, this means that we are releasing the one and a half meters for the entire group up to the age of 18." After the summer, all students will be able to take lessons at the same time again. However, they still have to keep their distance from teaching staff and schools must take hygiene measures.

Under pressure

AObdirector De Moel thinks the decision is logical. “A combination of physical lessons and distance learning is not sustainable for teachers and students. The one and a half meter distance between students was well thought out on paper, but turned out not to be sustainable in practice. ” De Moel does think that the cabinet should continue to monitor the infections closely. He is concerned about colleagues who fall into the risk group. “We have to make sure that they don't feel pressured to start working anyway. We already had a teacher shortage before the corona crisis and that is now only getting more complicated. ”

We must ensure that colleagues who fall into the risk group do not feel pressured to go to work anyway

Uit de AObsurvey in secondary education it also appears that votes were raised among the teaching staff for a full school opening. This was most often mentioned in the open comments. School organization LAKS is also delighted with the decision. Almost seven out of ten students gave in a poll to find this desirable and it offers them perspective. There are concerns among schoolchildren about their learning performance and social contacts. 'It is very nice and more than justified that the education sector is benefiting from the extra space,' said LAKS chairman Pieter Lossie.

Public transport

At secondary vocational education and higher professional education institutions and universities, the puzzle with class times can be unleashed after the summer. Rutte also announced that all seats in public transport may be used again from 1 July. However, the mouth mask remains mandatory.

Now there is a time slot between 11.00 a.m. and 15.00 p.m. and after 20.00 p.m. for lessons to avoid students during peak hours. The AOb previously argued for letting go of this time slot. In a survey of the AOb half of all members in the education sectors said it was unfair to ban students.

“It is good that students can go to school at normal times again, using public transport is part of that," says De Moel. "The public transport restrictions for MBO students and students at colleges and universities were also not happy. Why should mature people with office jobs be given priority over young people? That is inexplicable.”

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