Blended classes will start in 100 schools, 11,000 teachers have been vaccinated
"We started with 100 and the goal in the quarter is to reach 500 progressively, gradually and flexibly," said Maruja Gorday de Villalobos.
The head of the Ministry of Education (Meduca), Maruja Gorday de Villalobos, announced this Wednesday that the gradual return to blended classes will begin in 100 educational establishments, and in a period of three months it is expected to reach 500 schools.
"We started with 100 and the goal is in the quarter, as the president said, to reach 500 progressively, gradually, flexibly and with the consent of the father of the family," said Maruja Gorday de Villalobos.
She added that in this first stage, educational schools in areas where the virus contagion rate is low are included, such as Herrera, Los Santos, Darién, the Emberá region, some small schools in Central Panama and West Panama, however it will not include schools in areas with a high rate of positivity for COVID-19 cases, such as San Miguelito and Veraguas, among others.
“It is important to highlight that those 100 schools that start in this pilot plan respond first of all to that number of schools that are already carrying out their opening process through tutorials and other support, it means that those schools have been open, they have their committee COVID school installed, they have their security protocols, they have their return plan and the students have been attending interspersed according to how the educational center established that return,” she explained.
She added that within Executive Decree No. 435 of April 13, 2021 that regulates blended classes in Panama and will take effect from Monday, May 31, 2021, it is established that preferably the educators and administrative personnel of the educational establishment have been vaccinated.
In that sense, Maruja Gorday de Villalobos highlighted that to date more than 11,000 educators have received the vaccine against COVID-19.
"We started with 100 and the goal is in the quarter, as the president said, to reach 500 progressively, gradually, flexibly and with the consent of the father of the family," said Maruja Gorday de Villalobos.
She added that in this first stage, educational schools in areas where the virus contagion rate is low are included, such as Herrera, Los Santos, Darién, the Emberá region, some small schools in Central Panama and West Panama, however it will not include schools in areas with a high rate of positivity for COVID-19 cases, such as San Miguelito and Veraguas, among others.
“It is important to highlight that those 100 schools that start in this pilot plan respond first of all to that number of schools that are already carrying out their opening process through tutorials and other support, it means that those schools have been open, they have their committee COVID school installed, they have their security protocols, they have their return plan and the students have been attending interspersed according to how the educational center established that return,” she explained.
She added that within Executive Decree No. 435 of April 13, 2021 that regulates blended classes in Panama and will take effect from Monday, May 31, 2021, it is established that preferably the educators and administrative personnel of the educational establishment have been vaccinated.
In that sense, Maruja Gorday de Villalobos highlighted that to date more than 11,000 educators have received the vaccine against COVID-19.