Cristina Hodgson
THE Junta de Andalucia has announced it will hire 6,300 extra teachers for the next school year.
The objective is to divide up classrooms where there are more than 20 students. Similar to teachers conducting a police clearance, this is also considered to be a safety precaution for the benefit of students.
Implementing extra staff in schools is just one of the measures to be put in place by the Junta in an attempt to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
A measure announced this Tuesday by the Regional Minister for Education and Sport, Javier Imbroda.
This allocation, together with other improvements, represents an overall investment of more than €600 million.
152 PTIS (technical staff for social integration) will join these 6,300 teaching professionals.
Additionally, 1,600 cleaners will be employed to cover the disinfection tasks of the schools, with the aim that from September a ‘safe’ on-site educational model will be fully operational.
Both public and subsidised education will benefit from these measures.
The management of each educational institution will be responsible for the distribution of the support staff and for finding, if necessary, spaces for additional classrooms.
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External municipal facilities will be made available if needed, requiring the collaboration of the town councils in regulating access to the schools.
Furthermore, a COVID coordinator will be appointed among the teaching staff who will be in charge of the health monitoring of the centre and of transferring data to the Ministry of Health and Families.
The coordinator will be responsible, in collaboration with the health authorities, for activating a safety protocol in the event of an outbreak or contagion in an educational centre, including the corresponding closure of the facilities and the isolation of students if required.
The Education Councillor said that in cases where the distance of one and a half metres cannot be maintained between students, a face mask will be compulsory.
€25 million will be allocated to schools to expand or renovate their facilities and make them ready for emergencies.
