A group of parents today protested outside the Government building in Chisinau demanding that the Ministry of Education reverse its decision to extend the fall break until November 7. They handed over a petition signed by about a thousand parents who complain about the need to look after their children during this period and about the increased pressure of the lessons that will have to be caught up. “Weddings and christening parties are allowed, while school is not!”, they complain.
Ala Revenco, executive director of the NGO Părinți Solidari/Parents Together, said she came to the rally as a parent to support the petition. According to her, the school has become “a backup solution” for all the crisis situations during the pandemic. “We do not have other sectors that are as restricted as the school. We understand that school is not a sector that generates tax revenues, but causes expenses, but in the long run this will be a big problem for our children. In the last two years we have faced multiple such situations”, says Ala Revenco. In her opinion, pupils will be under increased pressure when the seven days added to the fall break will have to be recovered.
Tatiana Strat, mother of a first-grader, says the authorities’ decision to extend the fall break by a week has caused outrage because children have no one to stay home with. “We have no one to leave the children with for another week. They have to stay home alone or we have to take them to their grandparents, which is a nuisance for both them and us. But the biggest problem is that, at this age, children still do not have the ability to learn on their own, that is why they need a teacher to support them, to guide them in studying the material,” the parent added.
“Parents are put in a position to choose between a stable job and assisting their children in the educational process. We all understand that an extra week of vacation will not stop the pandemic and cannot influence the number of cases, especially as markets, shops, cafes and especially public transport are crowded and the school is not the only place where (coronavirus) can be caught”, reads the parents’ petition.
In response to the petition, the Ministry of Education and Research has reiterated that it decided to extend the fall break only for educational institutions in red areas, as advised by the Extraordinary National Commission for Public Health, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Specifically, the measure affects 422 educational institutions. These institutions will resume the educational process with a physical presence of students from November 8. As of November 1, 817 general education institutions in areas not affected by code red advisories have resumed the educational process as usual.
“The Ministry of Education and Research understands and fully shares the parents’ concerns about the extension of the autumn vacation in some educational institutions. At the same time, one of the main concerns of the Ministry is the health of students and teachers amid rising COVID-19 cases. The Ministry will collaborate with the local specialized authorities in the field of education and the directors of educational institutions to identify the best ways and deadlines for recovering the lessons ”, stated the Ministry.
Initially slated for October 27-31, the fall break started earlier, on October 23, due to rising coronavirus numbers.
