Trotta vows face-to-face classes for students 'at least three times a week'
As tensions between unions and officials continue, Education Minister Nicolás Trotta says schools will be allowed to have face-to-face classes three times a week.
Education Minister Nicolás Trotta said Monday that students in Argentina would be able to attend at least three face-to-face classes with their teachers a week when the new school term begins this month.
Speaking in an interview with a local radio station, Trotta said he hoped 2021 would “be a year of recovering learning,” adding that the government was promoting “the safe return” of in-person classes.
Addressing the question of how many face-to-face classes with teachers would be authorised a week, he responded “at least three times a week” initially.
Educational institutions were shuttered in March last year as part of a strict raft of measures to control the spread of Covid-19 in Argentina, with students instead switching to remote learning. Many children went back to face-to-face classes at the tail-end of last year, but only once a week.
The new school year is due to begin in mid-February in Buenos Aires City and some other regions, with the majority of provinces restarting on March 1. Students will be educated via a combination of classroom presence and virtual techniques.
Trotta said Monday that government officials had been touring the country to ensure students in all regions would be able to enjoy classes.
“We have visited 16 of the 24 educational jurisdictions so that we all have the same point of view – that all our schools are open at the beginning of term,” Trotta told the Lanata Sin Filtro programme.
The return of classes as a whole has been the subject of hot debate in recent weeks. Tensions have been mounting over the return of classes at schools across the country, with some unions insisting that teachers be vaccinated before classes return. The opposition Juntos por el Cambio coalition has taken up the subject as a banner issue, with government officials accusing what they view as “political opportunism."
The minister said all relevant health and safety protocols had been agreed and that “physical distancing, the use of masks and [appropriate] ventilation” would be “guaranteed.”
Trotta said the government wanted to “deliver all families the peace of mind that we are promoters of a safe return to the presence of children and teachers in all classrooms."
The minister also found time to aim a barb at former head of state Mauricio Macri, describing him as “a bad president” who had tried to “obstruct educational reconstruction" while in office.
"If they are so concerned that education is essential, why did they allow their government to underfund the schools?" he quipped.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
related news
-
Police raid soup kitchens as government claims 47% ‘do not exist’
-
Government denies university ‘discrimination’ after UBA funding deal
-
Milei heads to Madrid as star guest for Vox summit
-
Posse predicts 139% inflation as he finally turns up in Congress
-
Poverty rate was 48.9% in April, says Universidad Di Tella study
-
Milei says Argentina is ‘very close’ to lifting FX controls
-
Homicide, robbery and petty theft on the rise in Greater Buenos Aires
-
Milei attacks ‘loudmouth’ critics as he denies peso-dollar lag
-
330,000 porteños have dropped out of middle class in last eight years
-
River Plate secure qualification for 2025 Club World Cup