United classes
Compared to the first indications of the past few days, there are already many clarifications and also changes: the minister Lucia Azzolina would like to try not to divide the classes into two or more groups as it was assumed. To do this the principals will be able to use the flexibility of the length of the lessons – which could be reduced to 40-45 minutes – and the staggering of school tickets, especially for high school students: there will be fewer students in schools at the same time. And in class to accommodate all the students in a classroom even if there are more than 15, you can arrange the plexiglass dividers, of which the minister spoke at the meeting at Palazzo Chigi the other evening. A Korean solution, already ready in some schools, such as the Manz high school in Bergamo which set up the desks with three dividing walls: the plexiglass box could become an alternative to the use of the mask in the classroom, which has already raised many doubts. It would make it possible to reduce the distance between the children – now expected to be at least one meter – and, above all, to safely use the double desks that there are many schools. On Monday, the technical scientific committee of the Ministry of Health – which has already informally made it known that they are a good alternative to other spacing measures – put its indications in black and white. Then the Inail will have to explain how, in what shape and size, the dividers should be.
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No plexiglass
But meanwhile the idea has divided psychologists, experts and even politicians. If Matteo Salvini even speaks of madness, the members of the Bianchi commission, set up at Miur just over a month ago to make proposals on restarting teaching, are also doubtful: I hope it is a solution designed for very high emergency levels – says Giulio Ceppi, researcher of the Politecnico di Milano- or Bianchi – a proposal from the technical-scientific Committee, not ours. We, as a commission, instead suggested to play on three parallel platforms depending on the risk. In the face of the virus, a dynamic, flexible teaching model is needed, not plexiglass. According to the Bianchi Commission, therefore, other choices are better, which Azzolina will meet in the coming days also to try to mitigate the irritation of the experts, who have not yet had feedback on their work. Among their proposals there is also that of reducing the time in the classroom (and also the formal programs) and of welcoming students even outside of school for an additional teaching in museums, courtyards, state-owned spaces.
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The doubts of psychologists
They are also psychotherapists of the evolutionary age of the caliber of Alberto Pellai against child dividers: Thinking about children inside plexiglass cages makes me shiver, like seeing them on a leash or with a muzzle. Maria Rita Parsi, psychotherapist and member of the Observatory for children and adolescents, is more likely: It is a remedy. If conveyed by empowering children to respect the rules and making young people protagonists of the incarceration and killing of the virus, not a negative one. Even the principals, through the mouth of the ANP president Antonello Giannelli, support the idea of mini plexiglass walls, but at the same time ask for more investments and more hires.
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