The mayor of Chisinau Ion Ceban said the municipality decided to return to classroom teaching and learning because the number of cases of COVID-19 among children has decreased. Furthermore, the mayor is skeptical about the quality of online learning and said that in the current conditions, the return to classrooms is the best solution. Ion Ceban does not rule out the possibility that the children were kept away from school for two weeks because the goal was to economize on heating in education intuitions, IPN reports.
Yesterday, the mayor of Chisinau Ion Ceban announced that the students of the municipality of Chisinau return to classrooms on February 7. The Ministry of Education and Research shortly afterward informed that the students of all the primary and secondary schools and lyceums will return to schools on February 7.
“I discussed with all the directors, managers of medical institutions treating people with COVID-19 in Chisinau and these confirmed that the number of cases decreased. We do not have serious cases or extremely serious cases among children. We carried out an analysis by age brackets and determined that the children younger than 4 are the most affected ones. In this connection, we decided together that the students should return to classes. I think it was necessary for the students to stay home for two weeks. There were reports that energy resources for schools were saved this way and this can be so,” Ion Ceban stated in the program “The Fourth Estate” on N4 channel.
The mayor noted he regrets the lack of communication between the local public administration and the central one and he would like the actions and messages to be coordinated. He believes that the central authorities were influenced by the municipality’s decision to resume classroom teaching and learning as they initially intended to extend online learning for two more weeks.
“We took the decision on Thursday as we could no longer wait as all the institutions should be prepared. I don‘t know if the circular issued by the Ministry of Education is enough as such decisions are taken by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission. I’m glad that they reacted after the municipality took a decision and allowed the schools nationwide to return to the ordinary regime of study. We must coordinate the activities with the Ministry. We told them that we are ready to present different intervention scenarios for different situations. According to my information, they considered extending online learning for two more weeks,” stated Ion Ceban.
The Ministry of Education yesterday also announced that the extracurricular education activities planned for February 5-6 can be staged with physical presence.
