Schools in Guinea-Bissau are once again receiving students, after a seven-month break as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, with tight new restrictions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes the disease.
In a speech on Tuesday to mark the resumption of classes that day, the country’s minister of education, Jibrilo Balde, called on parents to send their pupils to schools and announced that they are to open for a total of 218 days in the current school year.
Classes will run from Monday to Saturday, he said. Normally classes are Monday to Friday in both state and private schools.
Due to the pandemic, the ministry has also ruled that each class will have no more than 30 students. Each is to have 15 desks, with one student seated at each end.
The use of masks and the washing of hands is compulsory when the student enters the school grounds.
At several schools in Bissau on Tuesday, Lusa observed that there were containers with water, soap and bleach for the pupils to wash their hands before entering classrooms.
Teachers stood in front of the classes to make sure that pupils were carrying masks and flasks of alcohol gel, as required by the Ministry of Education.
In several schools contacted by Lusa in the interior of the country – in Mansoa in the north, in Bafatá in the east, and in Catió in the south – classes resumed on Tuesday, although with more pupils present in establishments run by the Catholic Church than in others.
The minister expressed confidence that the school year “will be successful, despite the constraints caused by Covid-19” but asked the teachers’ unions to order their members to go and teach.
“What we have to discuss will be discussed in due course, as agreed, always on the basis of dialogue, without force,” he said, acknowledging that money is owed to teachers in stae schools but pledging that they will be paid by the government.
The Sinaprof, Sindeprof and SIese union, which represent several categories of teachers, have threatened to strike if the government “fails to comply with a memorandum of understanding” signed in March.
The government had scheduled the resumption of classes in schools for 14 September, but on the recommendation of th high commissioner for the fight against Covid-19, Magda Robalo, this was postponed until this week, on the grounds that there were risks of the infection spreading.
Guinea-Bissau has had a cumulative total of 2,385 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 40 deaths associated with Covid-19.
The first cases in the country were registered in March.
As part of the fight against the pandemic, the government in September declared a calamity and health emergency in the country until 8 December.
