UPE teachers’ union against students' physical return to classrooms

The Union of Professional educators has come out against the physical return of children to classrooms when schools reopen in September.

The educators’ union proposed that the education ministry creates a mechanism by which students are given online lessons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen active cases rise again across the country.

According to the UPE, educators should be allowed to return to schools, giving online lessons to students at home. The union also proposed vulnerable educators, as well as educators who have vulnerable family members should be allowed to work from home.

Exceptions for educators who haven’t got adequate supervision for their children should also be introduced.

Acknowledging the need for students to socialise with their class mates, the union said that there is a fine line between the economy and health.

“It is impossible for the ministry’s ‘classroom bubble’ to be implemented, due to the fact that the bubble cannot be deemed effective if the child goes out into the community,” Graham Sansone, president of the UPE, said on Friday. “The UPE cannot accept a situation where schools are opened and a ping pong mechanism is introduced whereby schools are opened and closed at every positive case registered.”

In order to streamline online teaching, the union said the ministry should ensure that all students and educators are given the needed hardware such as laptops and tablets.

It also proposed the ‘stationery of your choice’ measure, allowing for students to pick up hardcopies of notes from their preferred outlet.

“Similar to the ‘pharmacy of your choice’ scheme, the measure would allow for class notes to be picked up from a stationery close to their home,” it said.

Survey shows educators averse to children return to classrooms

The union said that acoording to a survey it carried out among 1,285 educators, 87% of respondents said that they do not want to physically return to the classroom. 82% also said that they do not want direct contact with children in fear of contracting the virus.

Asked on the adopted health and safety protocols, 92% said that they do not trust such measures. The majority of educators (87%) also said that they do not want to send their children to the physical classroom.

“We feel that we are obliged to lay out direction and forward proposals to the education ministry,” Sansone said.

He also said that proposals are being forwarded in August to allow ample time for the ministry to analyse and implement them for the new scholastic year.