Fundación Ceibal studies school reopening measures abroad

07/MAY/2020

Fundación Ceibal studied the control measures adopted by the governments of Denmark and France to gradually reopen their schools. These reports were drafted as internal inputs to design a national strategy for resuming face-to-face classes in Uruguay.

Denmark and France were the first countries in Europe to reopen their schools, which is why their adopted measures have been used as a guide to develop similar strategies locally.

The study presents a summary of the general aspects and main observations regarding these strategies, based on press reports and guidelines promoted by the Ministries of Health of both countries.

General aspects:

• Denmark resumed face-to-face classes in kindergartens, primary schools and extracurricular activities on 15 April 2020.
• France began a gradual return to face-to-face classes for all levels on 11 May 2020 (based on Denmark’s guidelines, among others).
• In both cases, the decision to resume classes was flexible and coordinated by each municipality.

Main observations:

Schools are encouraged to take actions to implement hygiene, physical distancing and infection prevention measures, including changes in teaching dynamics, in accordance with official guidelines. This includes taking concrete measures for buildings, hygiene, logistics—including the transfer of students to school—psychological well-being and class dynamics, following recommendations to have small, regular groups of students. Implementing these measures requires producing guidance materials as well as training and communication instances.

Summary of the guidelines:

• Instruct parents, teachers and students on the measures put forward to resume classes, prevent contagion, procedures in case of new contagions, and also raise awareness to avoid stigmatizing infected persons.
• Avoid public transportation for student transfers. Use of school transportation is recommended.
• Respect social distancing during transport (two seats per child), at school and inside classrooms (two metres between desks).
• Avoid crowds of parents, students, teachers and contact activities.
• Schedule staggered arrival, breaktime and departure times (e.g. forming two groups of students per class), and other possible measures, such as attendance on alternate days.
• Emphasize washing your hands regularly, especially upon arriving to school and before leaving, after handling shared resources, food, and after sneezing.
• Make available liquid soap and water as a highly recommended first option, or alcohol gel where this is not feasible.
• Clean tables, toys, toilets, keyboards, mice twice a day, the latter with disposable wipes.
• Wherever possible, try to teach outdoors in small and regular groups, and without contact sports.
• Coming up with new dynamics to facilitate physical distancing (e.g., floor markings to organize young children’s classroom environments) is highly recommended.
• Continuing with online classes for students who cannot attend in person is recommended.
• Do not go to school if you have symptoms of illness. If symptoms are detected during school hours, you should leave as soon as possible and avoid attending the institution for 48 hours after the symptoms have subsided.
• Face masks are recommended for teachers at all levels.