The following also applies to secondary school students: if you have complaints, you stay at home and get tested. According to the VO council, there are now tens of thousands more students than usual who report sick because they are in quarantine or are awaiting a corona test or the result thereof. Because of this they miss out on education.
Dupe of capacity problem
“We do not know exactly how many students are ill, but there are now much more than usual,” says the VO council. According to the interest group, it is logical that the number is higher, because students also have to stay at home if they have to be quarantined because of a sick family member or because they have a cold themselves.
Illy says they are not the biggest source of contamination when it comes to Covid-19. “Most of the high school students currently sitting at home don’t even have corona,” says Illy. “But they are the victims of the capacity problem with testing.”
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Teachers are now given priority if they want to be tested for corona. Students not. As a result, it sometimes takes a week before they have the results and can go back to school. “And that is why they cannot attend education, I think is a matter of concern.”
Additional measures in schools
Illy therefore advocates additional measures in schools. “Ventilation plays a role, but also rules about social distancing.” Nowadays, in schools, students do not have to keep their distance from each other. According to Illy there must be more awareness. “Students should realize that they should not just sit together at school, but that it should become normal to keep some distance from each other.”
Another measure Illy would like to introduce in the next OMT meeting is wearing mouth masks outside of class. “In the classroom it is easier to keep a distance from each other. Outside it is often a lot more difficult. You could wear face masks there, for example.”
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These measures would not only help keep the coronavirus out, but also regular cold viruses. Without complaints, students do not need to be tested and the chance of missing education is smaller.
Protocol
According to the VO council, the current protocol states that mouth masks are not necessary in the classrooms or when moving around in schools. It is not necessary, but if a school wants to implement it anyway, it is allowed.
Some schools offer sick students the opportunity to follow education from home, for example by streaming lessons online, or by means of a ‘buddy system’ where students let their sick ‘buddy’ know what needs to be done for a subject.
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