RSS
BestJobs Survey: 45 pct of employees with children want school year to take place normally, only in classrooms
Over 45 pct of the employees that have children want the new school year to take place normally, despite the current epidemiological context, and pupils start courses directly on school benches, shows a poll conducted by online recruiting platform BestJobs.
Another 29 pct prefer a hybrid education system, that would combine class presence hours with online classes from home, and only 25 pct believe the classes should take place only online, for the safety of pupils and their families.
"Still, nearly half of employees who answered the BestJobs poll are concerned by the lack of clarity regarding the rest of the school year, less than three weeks before it starts, and are afraid this year will be an educational sacrifice year for children. Another 47 pct hope that schools do not transform into COVID-19 hotspots, and 40 pct are concerned with a potential infection of the young, which would endanger the rest of the family members. There are parents concerned, also, that they will not be able to go to work due to educational units not being able to open (14.8 pct)," a BestJobs release remitted on Thursday shows.
In the situation in which the school year will have an online component, half of the parents who participated in the BestJobs poll say that they have all they need to ensure for the child the optimum framework for online classes. Little over 31 pct state that they have only partially the instruments necessary for online school - electronic device, internet and dedicated work space - while 19.3 pct say they cannot ensure adequate conditions for home schooling.
33.7 pct of the employees point out the fact that local authorities should ensure tablets or laptops and access to the internet for all pupils, so that online school take place in optimum conditions, while 21.8 pct speak of regulating the homeschool system. Only 1.5 pct of employees with school age children that responded to the BestJobs poll believe the authorities are sufficiently prepared to start the new school year in the current context.
The poll was conducted August 12 to 24, 2020, on a sample of 1,344 internet users in Romania.
BestJObs is one of the most important online recruiting platforms in Romania.
***
Education Minister Monica Anisie said on private B1 TV on Wednesday evening that the decision on how students will present themselves to the classes will be taken by the board of directors of the education unit, which will submit the proposal for approval to the school inspectorate and the Public Health Directorate, which will then be submitted for approval to the Emergency Situations Committee.
"We gave local autonomy in this way, because the principal of the teaching unit, the director of the local DSP can know best what is happening locally, not from the central level to take for everyone the same measure," explained the minister.
Regarding school medical offices, Minister Anisie said that there are currently not enough physicians and nurses in the school offices, but a bill tabled in Parliament provides for the unblocking of posts for the teaching staff, non-teaching staff and medical staff needed for these offices.
"Through the bill that I passed through the Government and tabled it in Parliament, I asked for the unblocking of posts for the teaching staff, non-teaching staff and for the physicians and nurses in school offices. You known very well that in Law 55 - the law in which measures for the state of alert are provided - the hiring contests were banned even for the teaching positions," the minister of Education said.
Finally, asked if she was afraid of dismissal following the censure motion, Anisie replied: "I would like to characterize this approach of the Social Democratic Party with one word - irresponsibility. So, I am not afraid of this censure motion."