Teachers Union Calls for Deferment of 2nd Semester for Earthquake County
ZAGREB, 11 January, 2021 - The teachers' union on Monday sent five demands to institutions including a request that second semester in Sisak-Moslavina County be deferred for 2 to 4 weeks and that employees and parents in Zagreb schools be informed in writing of the condition of school buildings.
Teachers have called for 2nd semester in schools in Sisak-Moslavina County to be deferred for 2 to 4 weeks after they had spoken to employees and parents in earthquake stricken areas where many of them were involved in volunteer work to rebuild their own homes and those of others.
The union warned than many students do not have electricity connected and that they need time to recover from the trauma and that they are not ready yet to stick to regular curriculum.
Apart from that many students are currently housed in containers and they need psychological help to adapt to their specific situation and in those circumstances it is impossible for principals to organise regular classes.
The union notes that the relevant ministry has sent a questionnaire asking where students are currently located and whether they have electricity but it has not taken into account their psychological-social condition nor their needs in the field and what students, parents and teachers need the most at the moment.
The union warned that neither students nor teachers are currently in a position to conduct online lessons.
The union also warns that parents in Zagreb demand that safe passage to schools be enabled for students and that rubble from the most recent quakes be removed from streets.
"If it is insisted that school in Zagreb starts according to Model A (face to face), we demand that employees and parents be informed in writing of the condition of school buildings that students are expected to attend on 18 January 2021, and for that to be before the start of school with additional information about what level of earthquake school buildings can withstand," the union said.
The union considers that it is essential to conduct evacuation exercises with students and that rescue protocols need to be updated in other counties that have been affected by the earthquakes because it seems that prevention in Croatia is not organised and regular evacuation exercises are not conducted.
The union also called for an urgent response from the ministry with regards to its demand set at a meeting on 29 December calling for employees in education to be among those priority groups for vaccination against COVID-19.
Teachers' Union Seeks Answers from Minister About New School Year
ZAGREB, August 28, 2020 - The Croatian Teachers' Union on Friday sent an open letter to Science and Education Minister Radovan Fuchs with the ten most frequent questions about the new school year coming from teachers in the field, with possible suggestions to resolve those issues.
The unions is seeking additional employment of assistant-technical personnel, who were in short supply even before the outbreak of the pandemic, saying that more than 48% of cleaners cleaned a much larger area than prescribed before the pandemic and that now they will be required to work even more to ensure compliance with epidemiological measures.
The teachers said that the issue of high-risk employees has also not been resolved nor is it clear if pupils who become infected will be excused and whether they will be required to attend online classes. They also want to know who will organise these classes.
The union has received a lot of enquiries from worried parents and employees regarding transport and it notes that it makes no sense for pupils from different grades to ride on the same bus, only to be later strictly separated according to classes when they arrive in school.
Delay in employment of additional IT teachers
Noting that a decision on ICT lessons in schools enters into force in the 2020/2021 school-year, the union warned that additional IT staff still had not been hired.
There are also delays in organising after-school day care in schools and the status of teachers in these classes has still not been resolved, it said.
Every teacher should be ensured with free Internet access or compensation for the related costs incurred and they should be equipped with a laptop, camera and applications in order to organise remote teaching, the union warns.
The union further notes that instructions are not clear for special schools either.
Teachers are want to know if and how often testing for the coronavirus will be organised for school staff, if they will be supplied with protective equipment, how classes will be covered should a teacher be compelled to go into self-isolation and so on, the union says in its letter to Minister Fuchs.
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