Classes sent home because of sick teachers, because there are no substitutes

Due to the increasing corona infections, more and more school classes are closing, mainly because of absent teachers. Almost a quarter (23 percent) of teachers in primary and secondary education are now at home, reports the General Association of School Leaders (AVS). The organization is based on a poll among a thousand school directors. It is hardly possible to find replacements anymore: 90 percent of the directors surveyed indicate that this is not possible.

An even higher percentage of the students was absent: 26 percent. The absenteeism figures are higher than the last time the AVS investigated this. A poll released on January 20 found that 18 percent of teachers were absent. Corona was also the big culprit then.

Quarantine Rules

In the meantime, the quarantine rules for schools have been relaxed, but that does not solve the problems. The absence of teachers is now the main reason for sending a class home. At first this had to be done with three or more infections, but that rule has been abolished. According to the poll, 60 percent of schools have sent one or more classes home in recent weeks. On average, there were two classes per school.

“At the moment the focus of many schools is to maintain education,” says AVS chairman Ingrid Doornbos. “As a result, schools hardly get around to making up for learning delays.”

National Education Program

The National Education Programme, in which billions have been earmarked to make up for the backlog caused by the pandemic, is therefore not running well in most places. Only 29 percent of schools say that they succeed in implementing this. Almost all school leaders (96 percent) would prefer that the program be expanded. They ask for more time than the two years that the cabinet has allotted for the programme.

Self-testing

More than four out of five schools succeed in organizing distance learning for absent pupils. “Due to the teacher shortage, that is not always easy,” says the AVS. They hope that Minister Dennis Wiersma will take action. Apart from the wishes about the investment program, the organization would like to see schools receive self-tests for all students. Now they only get it for groups 6, 7 and 8.

By: ANP