322

News

Full reopening for schools, but how many are able to comply given the short notice?

Puck Wagemaker
May 6th, 2021


This article is more than 3 years old.

Meanwhile, higher education students in Copenhagen can increase to a 30 percent physical attendance, which is in line with the rest of the country, but are they happy? No!

Many students are disabled (photo: Ministry of Children and Education)

From today, children attending grades 5-8 at public school will return to 100 percent physical attendance, while university students in Copenhagen will be permitted 30 percent – in line with the rest of the higher education establishments in the country.

Due to the two-day notice of the reopening from the government, it has been a race against the clock for most public schools to be ready by Thursday morning, according to Gordon Ørskov Madsen, the chair of the Danish Teachers’ Association. 

The minister for children and education, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, understands that not all schools have had enough time to be fully ready.

“It’s not a competition about who opens the fastest. It is really important that the schools give themselves time to get the logistics in place,” she told DR

Too little, too late
With the new reopening agreement, Greater Copenhagen university students will finally be able to have the same physical attendance as the rest of the country. Previously they were only permitted 20 percent.

But according to several students, the reopening plan for higher education is not good enough. Mike Gudbergsen, the head of the DSF students’ union,  says the plan to increase the capacity to 50 percent on May 21 is too little, too late.

“By that time, students will be studying for their exams, so it is limited how much of the 50 percent will be spent onsite,’’ he told DR.

“I wish the first social meeting the students had after the reopening was on campus and not in the bars or gyms.”


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”