Pupils from the third and fourth secondary school are already welcome to school full-time the week before the Easter holidays if the situation remains favorable. After the Easter holidays, the third secondary stage also follows. That was decided during the consultation with the education partners. However, this relaxation is too early for the education unions.
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If the epidemiological situation remains favorable, from Monday March 29, schools will be able to return to school full-time for their third and fourth secondary students. It concerns the week before the Easter holidays.
After the Easter holidays, from Monday 19 April, pupils from the fifth, sixth and seventh secondary school are again welcome at school full-time. The Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA) has this together with the Flemish education field after the advice of the virologists. ‘We want to make more face-to-face education possible step by step, but we remain cautious,’ says Weyts.
Since the autumn holidays, distance learning has been compulsory for students of the 2nd and 3rd grade, who are currently allowed to receive a maximum of half-time contact education at school. Adult education and part-time arts education have been in code red since the autumn break. This situation has a strong impact on mental well-being and learning delay.
‘Schools are getting more options step by step,’ said the minister. ‘This creates positive perspectives, while we still remain careful. The condition is that the epidemiological situation remains favorable. Nor is it a return to normalcy: strict security measures still have to be observed inside and outside the school walls. We are also asking again for the teaching staff to give priority to vaccination. Education is an essential sector and the teaching staff fulfill a crucial task. ‘
‘Too early’
The relaxation is too early for the education unions. “According to the experts, the epidemiological situation at the moment is not of the nature to make such decisions,” said the unions ACOD Education, COC, COV and VSOA Education. “The planned social easing, including the easing in education on March 15, can also have a negative effect on the number of infections and hospital admissions.”
The decline in homeworking across all economic sectors and a faltering rollout of vaccinations only add to trade union concerns. ‘Education staff is not a priority target group for those vaccinations. The question also arises as to whether public transport is prepared for the return of large groups of students to school, ‘he said.
A new education meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 24 March. In the meantime, if the figures deteriorate markedly, the Common Trade Union Education Front will bring the social partners back together in education early to re-question the envisaged easing on March 29 and re-evaluate the entire situation.
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