Just days before the expected start of the blended classes in Metropolitan Lima, experts reminded parents to bear in mind that it is a gradual, safe and voluntary process for which it is also necessary to prepare.
“The first thing that must be said is that it will not be a return to what was in 2020. We are not going to return to the same schools because that is impossible. We are talking about a blended return for a few hours and always on a voluntary basis, ”said Fernando Bolaños, Education Officer for UNICEF in Peru.
In an interview with him Healthy Mind program from Andina canal on line, stated that no school is similar to another and, therefore, it is necessary for those who participate in this pilot plan to have a conversation about meeting the requirements demanded by the Ministry of Education, including biosafety, as well as the psychoeducational impact of this measure.
You have to give confidence
Once the health and safety aspects are resolved, for the expert it is essential to focus energies on offering confidence to the minors who return to their study centers this September 15.
It is essential, he said, that the establishment of routines be worked on from now on because minors, having been studying remotely for so long, they wake up later and stay awake longer as well.
For this reason, he considered it necessary to make a transition and routines for his time inside and outside the home. “It is necessary to create a space of trust, where there is a lot of communication to see what is happening with the boys, how they react to this new way of doing things.”
He asked to remember that boys are not the same and do not react in the same way. Some will be very excited to go back to school, but others will still want to stay home, so be very patient.
“As many specialists and experts have shown, returning to classes is one of the things that will help a lot to solve mental health problems, learning problems. You do not learn the same at a distance or by phone. At the beginning it may seem a bit difficult, but in the long run we will see the benefits of this process ”, he stressed.
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You do not learn the same at a distance or by phone, said the expert
What to avoid and what to promote
In the same way that parents offered emotional support to their children when social isolation and quarantine were decreed, now they must repeat efforts so that the restart of classes is not seen as a threat.
“You have to develop trust in school and in working together from home. A learning recovery phase is being forged that will last, possibly, until next year. Part of the school’s job is to help children to relocate to their needs and parents should support this transition process.
In this line, he said that demanding situations should be avoided under the belief of “making up for lost time” because that will not be possible, especially considering that the emotional problems evidenced by many minors are really critical.
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Parents must be the emotional support of their children in this new stage of return
There are no wrong positions
Fernando Bolaños made it clear that in the face of the return to classes there are no right or wrong positions.
This is a decision that each parent has to make with their children and with their school, he argued, for which it is not correct to say “If my children are not going to return, none of them should return.”
“It is possible that many parents do not know it, but schools are centers where there is not too much contagion, where security elements can be maintained. In addition, children have taught us that, sometimes, they comply with the protocols better than adults ”.
Regarding the vaccination of minors, he indicated that very few countries have incorporated it as a prerequisite to reopen schools, adding that their immunization will probably delay.
“The protocols that have been implemented indicate what should and should not be done in the classroom. And to say that schools are open does not indicate that they will always be. If the third wave begins and there is an increase in cases, decisions will have to be made regarding it ”.
Strengthen the bond
The blended education process in the country began on April 19 in 20 educational institutions in Arequipa and currently 6,019 schools participate throughout the country with 246,760 primary and secondary students.
The Ministry of Education has reported that no provincial school where blended education is already done has registered covid-19 infections.
For the UNICEF representative, as more schools are opened in the urban area, there will be more experiences to tell and thus consolidate a process that is clearly beneficial for schoolchildren, who have seen their social and learning capacities diminish in this weather.
“One of the lessons that the pandemic leaves us is having shown that it goes better when we work together; teacher, families and students. Another is the benefit of technologies to seek other sources of research and work collaboratively through digital media, which should not be lost when returning to the presence “
He recalled that, although progress is being made with vaccination, “it is not known what will happen with respect to the pandemic.”
“The hardest part can end in three months, a year; But we have to talk about the issue and each school must make a plan, adapted to its reality and context. We must agree. Teachers, principals, families and with the endorsement of the Ministry of Education, taking into account that education, for a long time, will be mixed, that is, face-to-face and at a distance ”, he said.
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Published: 9/12/2021
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