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- Ελληνικά
As part of the effort to ensure the daily operation of schools in the midst of a pandemic and to address the need to replace teachers who are absent, it is noted that replacement needs in schools relate to a significant extent to cases of teachers who are not ill but are classified as 'close contact' or absent for the purpose of caring for children classified as 'close contact'.
On yesterday, for example, the absences recorded involved about 60% in cases of cases of sickness and about 40% in cases that were either close contacts or had to provide care for their children who were in self-confinement. It is therefore clear that replacement needs could be drastically reduced if teachers also made use of the "test for staying in school" procedure as implemented by the Department of Health.
Specifically, about 150 teachers - representing about 20% of those absent - could be in school if they made use either for themselves or their children of the "test for staying in school" procedure relating to contacts.
Therefore, and as part of the dialogue and collaboration we have developed, we are appealing to education organisations to use their influence to ensure that teachers who self-identify as close contacts or have children in care at home who are close contacts, use the opportunity provided by the antigen tests for contacts to ensure that schools are not burdened with avoidable absences. In this way they will also support their colleagues who continue to serve in the school.
We believe that the educational organisations PDED, OELMEK and OLTEK could help to mitigate the problems created by the unprecedented number of substitutions that schools have to manage. Particularly since the Government and the Ministry of Health have accepted and implemented recommendations made by the organisations to make the 'test for retention' easier to implement, we believe that we should all take advantage of this by contributing to the smoothest possible running of schools.
Such a contribution from the teachers' organisations themselves would also assist the additional facilities implemented by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth to facilitate the process of replacements in schools.
(EC)
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