For the teachers' union, which is a member of the General Confederation of Civil Servants (CGFP), the conclusions of the study presented this week by Minister of Education Claude Meisch were limited. According to Féduse, only half of the students were present in class between May 11 and June 29 and classes A and B were brought together during the last two weeks of the year.
The union stated that from their point of view, the time span was too short for anyone to be able to compare the reunification of classes A and B with the infection figures and conclude that there was no problem. The press release explains that the number of students will be much higher at the start of the new school year than during the study period.
Féduse also pointed out that the report did not differentiate between the infections recorded in schools that required the wearing of masks in classrooms and those that did not require students to cover their faces. Several different practices were in use across the country. Ventilation of classrooms will also no longer be possible in winter as it was before the summer holidays.
For Féduse, the risk of infection is therefore still very present at schools, even though the teachers' union wants the start of the school year to be as normal as possible. However, it is the health of the whole school community that must take precedence.
The announced step-by-step plan must be adapted to the reality that the virus can circulate very easily in schools. Féduse regrets that it has not yet received any information on this subject and that it has not been invited to the discussions.
The union still has many questions concerning protection, class ventilation, PE classes, the canteen, the screening strategy, tracing of contacts, and transparency in communication with the authorities.
Féduse demands concrete answers and no longer wants to be confronted with a fait accompli as has been the case until now.
