The president of the National Association of Public School Grouping Directors (ANDAEP) today appealed to the Government to make more operational assistants available, noting that the extension of school hours and the cleaning of spaces will demand more from employees.
"It must be recognized that this Ministry of Education has placed more employees in schools [recently], but this has been a structural problem for a long time," said Filinto Lima, also addressing the appeal to the Ministry of Finance.
The president of ANDAEP recalled that, due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, hours will be extended and the cleaning will require more work: "A few hundred more employees are needed", he said.
The president of ANDAEP was speaking to journalists at the door of the Dr. Costa Matos Basic School, in Vila Nova de Gaia, where he is the director, and alongside the secretary general of the National Federation of Education (FNE), João Dias da Silva, and the president of the executive council of the National Confederation of Parent Associations (CONFAP), Jorge Ascenção, in a joint initiative that they described as symbolic to mark the opening of academic activities for the year 2020/2021.
Asked if the lack of operational assistants could compromise the cleaning of schools, Filinto Lima said “he doesn't believe that this can happen”, despite having stressed the need for more employees and having taken the opportunity to appeal to the “good civic behavior” of students.
“Kids in pre-school and high school students [in May and June] had a civic conscience. Sometimes I compare it with what I see abroad, with adults (…). Our students behave well, there may be one or another situation, but I am confident that they will abide by the rules. I would like society to have the same level of demand that we will have within the school and the same level of compliance that I think will be adopted by our students and by our employees and by our teachers», he said.
Filinto Lima said that the school in Gaia, in the Porto district, which he directs, opens on Thursday and described the changes that were introduced due to the contingencies of the Covid-19 pandemic, namely the creation of circulation circuits, most of them one way to avoid intersections.
To avoid crowds, some spaces will have limited capacity, such as the bar, the library and the computer rooms.
The breaks will be shorter and the school's general opening hours will be increased, since before the Dr. Costa Matos Basic School opened at 08:15 am and closed at 18:00 pm, now it will open at 08:00 am and will close at 18:30 pm.
“When our students arrive here on Thursday, they will notice big differences. For example, at the entrance, each student will be offered a mask acquired, among other hygiene products, with an increase in the budget by the Ministry of Education», said the president of ANDAEP.
The mask will be mandatory: “It's good for parents to know that it's not just in the classroom. Without this mask, the student cannot enter school and will lack material, just as when he forgets a textbook”, he stressed.
As for the cleaning of spaces, the director took the opportunity to resume the demand for more operational assistants, noting that they will have an essential and “more fruitful” task with regard to disinfection and cleaning.
“There is a classroom for each class. Students don't clean. They help a lot if they don't get dirty. It is the employees who sanitize, although the teachers are ready to sanitize their workplaces», said Filinto Lima.
Finally, quoting the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the leader of ANDAEP said that "it is necessary to face this [school] year as a lot of humility", because it is expected to be "very difficult for everyone".
“We will have the humility to rectify something that goes less well. We hope that parents also make, at home, an awareness of their students so that their behaviors in the school context are different», he concluded.
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