The Ministry of Public Education (MEP) extended the maximum hours for returning to the classroom scheduled for the beginning of the school year, on February 8th. Now it is established that students will attend classes between 5 and 8 hours a day (initially it was four hours a day).
Depending on the schools particular physical conditions
An update made this week to the protocol approved by the Ministry of Health establishes that the hours of each educational center will depend directly on the physical conditions of the place.
“For public and private educational centers that do not have sufficient physical structure, different groups can be alternated with a maximum shift of 5 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the afternoon. For those public or private educational centers and professional technical colleges that have a physical structure and can effectively implement the health measures established for a longer working day, they may work for up to a maximum of 8 hours, alternating activities within the classroom and in open spaces”, indicates the guideline.
In both cases, it is added that each educational center must plan cleaning and disinfection between sessions and even during breaks. To achieve this, the persons in charge must be defined to comply with all the Health and social distancing protocols.
Also, for higher education
The same guideline issued for the resumption of in-person classes indicates the schedule that must be met in higher education (universities and academies). In this case, the educational day “should not exceed 3 hours (3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon and 3 at night), with breaks every 45 minutes”.
The first version of the LS-CS-014 guideline was approved on December 14th and its first update was made on January 20. For the return to classes, each educational center will define its schedules and distribution of groups, as well as the definition of how the in-person lessons will be combined with the virtual ones.
Face-masks mandatory
It is established that the use of the mask will be mandatory during the entire in-person session for all those over 6 years of age, the only time they can remove the mask will be during lunchtime. Cleaning and disinfection stations should be placed at different points in all educational centers, where soap and water should be available.
