Filenews 18 January 2022 - by Evangelia Sizopoulou
Next Monday, the health ministry aims to implement the "Test to stay" in schools, but concerns on the part of teachers continue to exist. Their concerns were not allayed in the context of yesterday's wide-ranging meeting either, in the presence of the Ministers of Education and Health, the head of the Advisory Scientific Committee, educational organisations and organised parents.
The Minister of Health and Dr Konstantinos Tsioutis explained how to implement the measure, which will be optional, noting that it will be done for a period of five days to unvaccinated students, who will be found to be contacts of cases, but which will be detected during the checks carried out in schools. Every day children will be tested to see if they are negative for the coronavirus. If they are negative, their parents will decide whether to leave them at school so that they do not miss classes, or whether they wish to confine them at home, based on current protocols.
Another point that was made clear at yesterday's meeting is that this test will be carried out by health professionals, after handling the matter by the health ministry.
However, the "Test to stay" apart from the reactions of educational organizations to whether or not it ensures safety within school premises, creates ... two different protocols for contacts of coronavirus cases. This is because the student who will be declared as a classmate's contact will be able to be in his school normally if he is checked for five days and is negative, while from the moment he/she goes to school onwards, he/she will be placed in a restriction based on the general protocol that is in force.
Among the concerns raised by the stakeholders, both to the competent ministers and to Dr Tsioutis, was how to ensure safety within school units in case a contact student is negative in the first days but is positive in the following days. As has been said, since he will be tested every morning before entering the classroom and is found to be negative, then there is no question of risk for the rest of his classmates and teachers, as the chances of him positivity while in school are reduced.
Dr Tsioutis said that the philosophy of this approach was explained, which aims at "essentially what we have been saying for a long time, that we have to adapt to reality two years after the start of the pandemic". As he said "the transmission continues and therefore we should do everything we can, to use as many weapons as we can, to stay safe and to keep our spaces, our society as open as possible, functioning, in safe frameworks".
Asked when the measure would work, he said that "I don't know exactly that, it's not up to me. There are too many issues and factors that need to be taken into account and precisely because it is a fairly new measure. We have seen it implemented in other countries. What we need to ensure is that once it starts it can remain in operation." Asked to comment on teachers' concerns, he noted that in studies and practice it has been shown that these tests help in the early detection of someone who is positive, who will be isolated and therefore will not have time to transmit.
The Minister of Education, Prodromos Prodromos, said that this is "a measure that we will take now for a certain period of time. We will see how it works and, of course, our sole objective is that a number of children - it is not a large number, but it is worth it - should not be deprived of schooling, since it turns out that they have a negative diagnostic test. The rest will be clarified by the Ministry of Health, we as the Ministry of Education always align with the ministry of health, but also with the recommendations of the special advisers, on health safety issues and we have as a common goal to keep schools open, but safely."
The concerns of the educational organizations have not been extinguished
The information of "F" indicates that there was an intense and particularly lively discussion as the teachers expressed concerns, for which answers were requested. However, all three educational organizations (OELMEK, OELMEK, OLTEK) will transfer what was said yesterday to their Boards of Directors next Thursday for evaluation.
The president of OMEMEK, Kostas Hatzisavvas, expressed reservations and concerns about this measure, calling on ministers to have second thoughts on this issue, because what appears to be the abolition of the protocol within school units in relation to the protocols in force outside school units regarding the definition of close contact. "We are currently seeing a disparity in the implementation of health protocols within school premises compared to what is applied outside the school units," he added, noting that within schools there are teachers and students with very serious health problems and there is a serious risk. "Why should children who are close contacts and are unvaccinated, come to school, move around uncontrollably, endanger the health of both their classmates and teachers and anyone who works in the school premises but when they leave school to be placed in self-isolation, not to be able to circulate even in cafes, neither in the stadiums, nor elsewhere", asked Mr. Hatzisavvas.
For her part, the president of the OMC, Myria Vassiliou, said that the position of the organization is that schools are open but safe and added that there are grey areas in the whole issue. "We will evaluate what has been said with our collective bodies," said Ms Vassiliou, who noted that she strongly raised the need to revise the protocols governing the operation of kindergartens and special schools. Information from "F" indicates that the ministry and the scientific committee have expressed the intention to discuss this issue in the coming days.
The president of OLTEK Panagiotis Lysandrou said that the position of the organization is open schools safely and added that "Mr. Tsioutis said that when a student tests in the morning before entering the classroom, in the next few hours the probability of transmitting the virus is minimal".
