“At the Teachers’ Council, They Said: There Is an Order From Above - Not to Be Afraid of COVID”

How Belarusian schools are being turned into hotbeds of coronavirus.

On Monday, schoolchildren start their holidays, which will actually fall on the peak of the fourth wave of coronavirus. Meanwhile, school camps are planned for children, as well as excursions and other activities, despite the unfavorable epidemiological situation. Let us remind you that although children are mostly sick in a mild form, they carry the viruses home and pass them on to their relatives. Including the elderly, whose disease can be quite severe, Nasha Niva writes.

Vacation plans have already appeared on the websites of schools in Belarus. Guided tours, games, quizzes, school camps, etc. Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Educational Work and Youth Policy of the Ministry of Education Aliaksandr Matsiushonak noted that schoolchildren will be actively busy during the autumn holidays:

"Class supervisors will traditionally take children on excursions. Pedagogical support will continue to be provided for joint Internet projects with students. In addition, it is planned to organize events for legal education of participants in the educational process."

"The other day there was a meeting on the occasion of the autumn holidays. I was personally shocked by what we heard," says a teacher of one of the schools in the capital's Malinauka. "The head teacher said: "There is an order from above - not to be afraid of COVID: We take those schoolchildren who come to school camp on vacations on excursions, to museums." But at this rate, we will finish off those who have not yet been finished off.

We discussed this topic with colleagues. Many were outraged. There are not enough teachers in the school anyway - many are sick with COVID. It happens that, during classes, children sit alone in the room - there is no teacher.

This is prohibited, so most often one teacher is split between two classes. First, on the move, he explains a new topic to one of them, gives them an assignment, and runs to the next room to try to do the same with the second class. Believe me, the teachers are very exhausted and work in really difficult conditions. At home, we also have children and parents. Many people think about quitting work.

But some said: "I have to feed my family. If I lose my job, no one will help." So yes, some will continue. But I personally, like some of my colleagues, will come to the children, teach them, but all these trips to public places will be canceled for a variety of reasons."

Interestingly, opinions differ among parents as to what to do with their children during the holidays.

"The hardest thing is for the parents of elementary school children. You cannot leave these children alone at home. But after reading the parent chat the other day, I, frankly, was very surprised," Volha, the mother of a fourth-grader from Minsk says. "Before each vacation, teachers always ask to provide information about the address, in which city, and with whom the children will be staying during the vacation.

And so I open the parent chat and see that they're going to send their kids to their grandmothers for the vacations.

It turns out that, on vacation, some will go with teachers to museums and excursions, others will disperse throughout the country to their grandmothers, and then we will all blame the medics for running out of hospital beds and not being able to save all the sick.

I agree that we can't be categorical, we need to take into account the circumstances of each family. But, for the safety of those closest to them, can't parents take a week off at their own expense or somehow group themselves together? I do not want to speak in slogans, but we, parents, in this situation do not look much better than some officials who can break their foreheads for the sake of service."