Schools should reopen normally, but Government prepared for different decisions

Schools must reopen in a normal situation and only a negative evolution of the pandemic will lead to contrary decisions, of greater or lesser scope, which the Government said this Thursday was prepared to take.

At the press conference at the Council of Ministers meeting this Thursday, the Minister of State and the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva said, after being asked about the topic, that the Government is working with schools to guarantee a scenario ” as close as possible to the normal start of the school year “.

“Obviously, at every moment and depending on the epidemiological situation, we are always prepared to make different decisions. Different, more limited decisions, of small changes in operation, or more significant different decisions, resuming distance learning and the home study platform. , which continues to be prepared so that it can respond “, said the minister.

Mariana Vieira da Silva said that the guidelines for the reopening of schools and the start of the school year are known and underlined that depending on the epidemiological situation at the time of starting, a start of classes closer to normal or with limitations, such as the division of classes or the distance learning, for example.

“These decisions are made by the health authorities and the Ministry of Education depending on the starting condition that is known,” he said.

Recognizing the exceptional situation that will force students to wear a mask, to always have disinfectant gel available, to create circulation aisles, stay rules and specific meal times, among other aspects motivated by combating the covid-19 pandemic, decided the schools, the Ministry of Education and health authorities, the minister also stressed the importance of returning to school.

“We believe that returning to school is of the utmost importance, for children and young people, for the whole of society and we are working so that it can be resumed,” he said.

“When in March we closed the schools, the level of knowledge that existed was also different from what exists today and today it is a recommendation from everyone, from WHO itself, that schools can resume, because they are, for many children and young people, the place safer and where more conditions of safety and public health can be guaranteed, in addition to teaching and learning, contact with other children, the food that the public school provides “, added the minister.

Portugal accounts for at least 1,770 deaths associated with covid-19 in 53,548 confirmed cases of infection, according to the latest bulletin from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

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