The second quarter of the semester began Wednesday in Ibiza, as expected in the midst of a wave of coronavirus infections, with casualties of teachers and students in virtually all of the island’s schools and institutes. According to data released by the Govern at noon, 51 Pitiusas teachers, 47 in Ibiza, and 4 in Formentera were unable to return to the classroom following the Christmas break due to covid.
“I know that a dozen public schools in Ibiza have resumed classes with fewer teaching staff because they are on leave due to coronavirus or are awaiting results,” said Fina Colomar Vicaria, president of the Association of Directors of Infant and Primary Education of Ibiza, an hour before the Balearic Ministry of Education provided specific figures. “Right now, we’re focusing and only replacing tutors on leave since, despite the fact that the bag of express substitutions by covid has been increased with additional teachers, there aren’t enough to cover specialist teachers’ leaves,” she explained.
In Ibiza, the rate ranges from 5% and 15%
The number of students who missed classes yesterday in Ibiza’s Infant and Primary schools “was very similar to the figures for teacher absences,” according to Colomar, though “the data for the first day of class are not significant because these absences may be due to covid or other factors such as students having extended their Christmas vacations.”
According to a poll performed yesterday by Antonio Marquez, head of the Association of Directors of Secondary Schools of Ibiza and Formentera, “sick leaves happened for various causes among teachers and students in all pitiusos schools.” In the case of teachers, he noted that “depending on the secondary school, between 5 and 15% of the faculty did not attend to the classroom yesterday.” These absences, he explained, “are beginning to be covered,” despite the fact that, as Pere Lomas, a spokesman for the Sindicat dels Treballadors de l’Ensenyament de les Illes (STEI) in the Pitiusas, pointed out, the difficulties in finding substitutes are much greater in Secondary than in Infant and Primary. “In schools, it is easy to find staff to cover absences due to the multidisciplinary nature of the teachers who work there,” said the STEI representative, “but in high schools, due to the specificity of the subjects, it is much more difficult to find substitutes for subjects such as mathematics, Catalan, or cooking and catering.”
Pepita Costa, president of the School Council of the Balearic Islands (CEIB) and the Federation of Parents’ Associations of Ibiza (FAPA), anticipated a “difficult” start to the second quarter because she thinks that “many casualties, notably of teachers,” will occur in the coming weeks. “We are concerned, but we are less concerned than we have been in the past because the symptoms of the omicron variety do not appear to be serious,” he said.
Mart March, the Balearic conseller of Education and Formación Profesional (FP), has also warned that January will be “difficult” in Balearic educational institutes. This was conveyed in an interview in IB3 obtained by Europa Press, in which he stated that his department has formed a coordination office to respond to the requests of the centers, such as the development of a group covid of swift teacher substitutions. “The goal is that students’ educational needs are met; it’s a complex issue that we somehow predicted, given that the incidence is increasing daily, so clearly the commencement of the course will have this consequence,” he explained. March, on the other hand, recalled that “previous year demonstrated that it went well since a procedure was done appropriately, with a whole and absolute degree of security,” and asserted that infections within the school only reach 4%.
Despite the fact that the number of cases of covid is increasing in the Pitiusas, Antonio Márquez, Pere Lomas, and Pepita Costa all agreed that the Education Department’s decision to restart courses in person is suitable and “better for the students” and “the exercise of teaching.”
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