Business chamber rejects decision to delay blended classes

On Saturday, May 29 the Ministry of Education announced that after coordination with the Ministry of Health it was decided to postpone the start of blended classes in 22 public and private schools in the provinces of Panama and Panama Oeste, based on the increase of infections of covid-19.

On Sunday The Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture f (Cciap) reacted to the government’s decision, emphasizing that it is not possible to live in uncertainty in the sector.

In its weekly letter to the country, the chamber recalled that the private sector has made itself available to support where this return presents more challenges than in private sectors, with- the understanding that the process must begin as soon as possible. And that in that sense it supported the immunization against Covid-19 of teachers.

“To appear 36 hours prior to the scheduled start of blended classes with the decision to postpone this gradual return to the classrooms of 22 schools due to biosafety measures, is to ignore the work and the preparation of protocols that educational communities have enlisted for months to avoid the transmission,” said the Cciap statement.

It is emphasized that the authorities are called upon to maintain open communication with society and provide the information that supports the decision to postpone the start of blended classes

“As when this union appealed for the opening of companies, scientific evidence, both globally and locally, shows that cases of contagion do not occur in schools or work centers; they occur in the leisure of a supposed restriction at home that, given the fatigue of the confinement, ends up promoting community agglomerations ”, highlights in the statement of the union chaired by José Ramón Icaza Clément.

The Chamber of Commerce recalled that the Panamanian nation is one recognized for being one with the biggest lag in education due to the pandemic and that this requires the return to classrooms immediately, safely, gradually, and voluntarily.