LISBON.
Government has come forward with one of the most extreme measures to try to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. As of Monday, almost two million students, from pre-school to university, are unable to attend classes.
April 9, Government makes reassessment
The decision that until two weeks ago few could have foreseen was announced this Thursday: the Government decreed the closure of all educational establishments, from day care centers to universities, starting on Monday, as well as the ATL.
The measure, which will be reassessed on April 9, was taken after discussion by the cabinet and after consultations with all parties with parliamentary seats. And it ended up contradicting the technical recommendation issued on Wednesday by the National Council for Public Health (CNSP). Health experts understood that, in the current phase of the spread of the new coronavirus, the measure was disproportionate.
But after considering all the advantages and losses, the Government decided to proceed with the closure of schools.
If the school calendar continued normally, the Easter break would happen on March 30, with classes resuming on April 13.
For now, the consequences of this interruption are obvious: tens of thousands of parents will have no choice but to stay home and take care of the children.
As for the recovery of classes, exam schedule and competition for access to higher education, it is premature to anticipate effects. It all depends on the evolution of the outbreak in the coming days and the duration of the suspension of classes.
Public school principals have already assumed that there are no technical and material conditions to guarantee mass distance learning.
Portugal is not the first country to take this measure and the closing announcements are following: Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Turkey, Ireland and, a few moments ago, France and Spain have also imposed the closure of schools.
In the last few days and in view of the appearance of the first confirmed cases in school communities, unrest has been building. If there were schools where the health authorities ordered the closure of the facilities due to the existence of confirmed cases – in Portimão, Amadora or Santa Maria da Feira, for example – in others where there were cases of students with infected family members, only some elements of the school were sent home or not, limited to surveillance of symptoms and precaution in social contacts. Among private schools, preventive closures were announced.
Portugal has already confirmed 78 infections in the territory, a number that is expected to grow daily. Worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins Institute, there are 127,000 confirmed cases, with 68,300 patients already recovered and more than 4,700 deaths.
