Staggered admissions and extended hours until 4pm, as the school will change from 7 January

A restart in the middle awaits the Italian school. On 7 January, the day after the Epiphany, only half of secondary and high school students will be able to cross the threshold of their school. To minimize the risk of contagion and contain the Coronavirus epidemic, Minister Lamorgese has decided, in fact, to revolutionize the traditional structure of classes and lessons, allowing only 50% of students to attend courses in person. If the experiment were to prove effective, the percentage of children admitted to the class would then be extended to 75% in a day between January 15th and 18th.

“We are ready to reopen the schools, but with surgical actions in case of out-of-control infections. Just as if there are well-defined outbreaks, it will be necessary to take steps back. We have to get used to a stop and go, this will be our routine and we will go on like this for most of 2021 », explained the Deputy Minister of Health Pierpaolo Sileri, speaking of a joint action to various public sectors. For 50% of students to start taking lessons again, it will be necessary reorganize the routes of public transport so as to avoid crowds which, last September, accompanied the return to school. Three hundred million euros have been allocated to pay for additional rides, and institutions have been asked to provide for different entry times.

Children will not have access to school in a single time, as has happened up to now. Three brackets will allow them to enter the classroom between 8 and 10, and the duration of the lessons will be shortened to avoid that the school hours have to be extended beyond 16. Each course cannot exceed 45-50 minutes. Lessons that cannot be attended in person will be remotely recovered and, if necessary, the school timetable of the institutions that do not provide it can also be developed on Saturdays. This hypothesis, however, has raised the opposition of principals and regions.

Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Molise, Basilicata and Sardinia have refused to readjust the school timetable to have staggered admissions and have decided to allow students to access their schools in a single solution, at 8 in the morning. «The main problem remains transport. Many provincial tables have chosen staggering of entrances as a solution. It is a solution on which we do not agree if the staggering means delaying the pupils who enter the second round so much and therefore prolongs their stay at school with inevitable negative repercussions. Yet, there has been time. The school used it to adapt to the need to prevent infections, but transport continues to be rigid “, he said in an interview with La Stampa Antonello Giannelli, president of the National Association of Public Managers and High School Professionals, wondering why the brackets were not provided for other activities and wondering how the children, forced to school until 16, can then do their homework.