Here we go again, parents sigh. Mail from school: the infections among teachers are increasing and because of the teacher shortage, no replacement can be arranged. Child at home, work continues, stress everywhere. The well-known story, but now in the summer – the time of year when no one wants to think about corona.
With the summer holidays approaching, the school schedule is filled with end-of-year activities such as musicals and farewell drinks. These are now, as in the past two years, in danger of lapse again. Or children come back infected from school camp, just before the holidays to France.
The virus is spreading in many schools. ‘Today seven colleagues with corona!’, a teacher writes on Twitter. Our groups 8 performance for parents will be deleted. We are wearing mouth caps again and tomorrow we will say goodbye to two colleagues online.’ ‘Corona everywhere’, a mother notes, also on Twitter. ‘Children from class oldest in all states; camp (closing primary school) and end-of-year musical and at the last minute Covid in the school and class.’
The increase in the number of corona infections in society is reflected in schools, the Ministry of Education confirms. However, no one knows exact numbers. Schools have not registered infections separately since the start of the pandemic.
Now that there are no more measures, schools are pursuing their own policy
A big difference with previous corona revivals in education is that there are currently no measures in place. In the event of complaints, a self-test is urgently recommended, but the GGD’s test street is only open for certain target groups, such as healthcare employees. The result is that schools pursue their own policy, according to a tour of de Volkskrant†
“We still have a stock of self-tests, but it is not the case that we are now sending messages from the schools to teachers and parents: please do one at home,” says spokesperson Anko van Hoepen of SPO Utrecht, a school board that includes 38 public schools. fall under. The infections are rising slightly again among the staff and students, although this has not caused any major problems for the time being.
Paul Jankowski, director of the d’Oultremont College in Drunen, decided to send a letter to parents of students, after the absenteeism among teachers and students at secondary school had increased. In it we write that corona is back and it is good to stick to the basic rules: wash hands, ventilate, take self-tests. If a colleague tests positive, he or she will not come to school.’
The cabinet wants to keep schools open at all costs
The revival in education is casting its shadow into the autumn, when the infections are likely to rise again. The cabinet wants to keep schools open at all costs from now on, because of the impact that a closure has on children and to make up for the arrears incurred during previous corona waves.
Even in the worst case scenario (phase ‘red’), pupils in primary and secondary education are therefore allowed to continue to come to school, just not every day and only with half the class. “But this scenario is also avoided for as long as possible,” the Ministers of Education Robbert Dijkgraaf and Dennis Wiersma wrote to the House of Representatives on Monday.
Now that there are hardly any measures, the will to talk openly about corona outbreaks at school also seems to have disappeared. Some directors only want to tell anonymously about the return of the virus. ‘It doesn’t have to be in the public eye,’ says a deputy director of a primary school in the center of the country as the reason. Last week, two teachers and six toddlers were at home with corona, including the teacher of group 8. Fortunately, she is back this week, so the musical can continue. Two other teachers have since become infected.’
The willingness to test among teachers is still high, notes the deputy director. ‘They hope to be able to go on holiday that way too.’ It is sometimes different with parents. ‘There are children in the upper years who say: I’m not going to test anymore, because my parents say you won’t notice the virus anyway.’
At childcare organization Ska in Amersfoort, which has been struggling with staff shortages for some time, absenteeism due to corona is so high that contracts with parents are forced to be terminated. Ska’s communications officer does not want to say anything more about this. ‘At the moment our focus is on our parents, children and employees,’ she emails. ‘We are not interested in a story about corona infections in de Volkskrant.’
Schools are silent: ‘Our goal now is to make it to the holidays.’
Data expert Bart Bolkestein has also noticed that schools are less eager to communicate about corona outbreaks. He has been monitoring infections in education on his own initiative since the start of the pandemic. He does this on the basis of public sources, such as media reports, or via reports from parents, teachers and directors that arrive on his site Scholenmeldpunt.nl.
But for a few weeks now it has suddenly become remarkably quiet on his site, which contradicts the rising numbers. “There has been a mysterious silence surrounding outbreaks in schools,” said Bolkestein. “It seems that people no longer want to hear that the virus is emerging. They’re done with it, that feeling.’
Two years of corona has hit school directors, Van Hoepen of SPO Utrecht notes. ‘So you do hear sounds of: it won’t be the case that it will rise again in the autumn, will it? We’re pushing it a little bit. Our main goal now is to make it through the holidays and relax.’