The explosive situation with the course of the pandemic has forced infectious disease experts to recommend the implementation of additional restrictive measures to halt the spread of the pandemic. In this context, primary schools are also expected to be closed, a decision that is expected to be finalised on Friday afternoon, 13/11.
How the lessons will be held if the primary schools are closed
On Thursday, Education Minister Niki Kerameos had announced that if the suspension of primary schools goes ahead, the two levels that are ready will be moved.
1. Educational television
More than 220 lessons have been filmed from scratch, a library has been built on the voluntary contribution of teachers, which will be made in cooperation with ERT for the screening of educational episodes.
2. E-learning
At the same time, the minister pointed out that all high schools and high schools today are in the tele-education without problems, while noting that «arrhythmias will exist and we are here to solve them, we are talking about a huge project with on day 2 of eLearning we have over 3.2 million students online and over 9 million minutes of lessons.».
Asked about the problem that occurred in the platform of tele-education and the related comments from the opposition about not having an alternative plan, she said that this system had been tested nationwide in the spring during the lockdown and that there is no better crash test than this and it had already worked.
The minister invited the representative of each party to see the contract with CISCO, the company that has taken over the tele-education platform. «It is about donation. The Greek government has not spent a single euro», he said.
About the fact that the elementary schools are open and at the same time some are closed tutoring centers that offer services to elementary school children (e.g., foreign languages, study) said that the committee's recommendation was that specific schools (elementary and special schools at each grade level) remain open for specific reasons, and noted that the committee's basic principle is that student groups should not mix with each other.
Continued supplying schools with laptops
The Ministry of Education informed on Thursday that it has secured for primary and secondary schools throughout the country 65.965 portable devices with a value of more than EUR 20 million through ESPA and 25.648 mobile devices of more than EUR 4 million through donations in response to the unprecedented conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, launching the additional equipment as early as spring.
This equipment, which has already been delivered or is to be delivered to schools, shall be the property of the schools and shall be made available to pupils and/or teachers for temporary use, in order to facilitate the implementation of distance learning, but also to contribute in the long term to the deepening of digital skills.
Priority is given to supporting families on the basis of social and other criteria, including in particular low income, unemployment parents/guardians, membership of a parent/guardian a single-parent, large family, a family with three children or an orphan family, or the existence of specific learning difficulties.
Social criteria are taken into account for the distribution of the devices to school units, starting from areas with low GDP per capita, hard-to-reach areas, special education and training, vocational training, etc., as well as the level of education.
The exact number of devices per school is determined based on the student population and the existing equipment of the school units.
The Ministry has ensured that all schools in the country receive portable devices.
