Africa-Press – Cape verde. More than nine thousand children from the island of Fogo return, on September 19, to the classrooms. The central (national) act of the beginning of the Academic Year 2022/23, takes place in the City of São Filipe -seat of one of the three municipalities of the “Volcano Island” -, in a ceremony led by the Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva.
The Municipality of São Filipe, which occupies the largest territorial area of the island of Fogo and concentrates more than half of its population, is the one that will have the largest number of students, and the forecast – according to the delegate of the Ministry of Education, Emanuel Barbosa – , points to close to six thousand students (more specifically, five thousand 897 enrolled), from Pre-School to 12th grade.
They are distributed by Pre-School (811), spread over 27 establishments; Compulsory Basic Education (three thousand 694); Secondary Education (1,392).
In total, there are 208 classes, spread over 26 schools in the four existing groups.
To ensure “the normal functioning of classes”, the Delegation has a total of 273 teachers, that is: the same as last year.
“We expect to start the Academic Year with a complete teaching class”, announces the Education delegate, Emanuel Barbosa, stressing that “the needs of the teaching staff have already been accounted for”, summarizing, “basically, unpaid leave, retirement and contracts until 31 July”.
The preparation activities for the academic year 2022/2023 “began successfully and the necessary conditions are already in place”, for “a normal teaching”.
As in the previous academic year – guarantees Barbosa – there will be full-time and face-to-face classes, with a full workload, despite the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic prevention plan is still maintained.
“Therefore, it will be an Academic Year marked, still, by uncertainty, dependent on the evolution of the pandemic”, warns Barbosa.
Priorities
In short, the priority for the coming Academic Year, “is to continue to establish a serene framework, conducive to learning and the resumption of collective life”, along with reducing the gaps resulting from the health crisis, “implying the identification of the specific needs of each individual”. student”, in order to be attended in a personalized way.
“The Academic Year 2022/2023 will continue to have the five priorities listed in the ‘Guidelines for the Academic Year 2021/2022’, that is: preserve the health and well-being of students and teaching and non-teaching staff; to develop team spirit and favor direct interaction between teachers and students to transmit knowledge, competences and reduce disparities; ensure the full inclusion of all children and young people with special educational needs; transmit civic values such as respect for
others and commitment to citizenship, teaching Moral and Civic Education, combating all forms of discrimination and harassment; and fight against school dropout, adapting to the specific needs of each student and each school”, highlights delegate Barbosa.
Still in the list of priority objectives, Barbosa points out “the consolidation of learning, worked in the 2021/2022 Academic Year, as well as those not worked during the last three school years, due to the reduction of teaching hours.
“We will also work on the planned contents, we will adopt active methodologies, without forgetting collaborative and hybrid teaching, with a focus on formative assessment”, adds Barbosa.
Reinforcement of hygiene rules
Emanuel Barbosa also highlights that the Delegation he directs will continue to reinforce compliance with hygiene and sanitation rules in schools, along with the promotion and modification of behaviors, with the aim of “increasing the intensity and frequency of activities”. cleaning and disinfection”, improving waste management practices.
“We will guarantee social distancing, we will apply the third dose of vaccination to all teachers and school staff, we will maintain a ratio of 36 students per class, we will improve hygiene conditions, we will provide water, soap and alcohol gel, we will create rules for the use of teaching and non-teaching staff rooms, in order to promote and maintain everyone’s health safety”, Barbosa lists.
Room planning and rehabilitation
As for pedagogical planning activities, the delegate of the Ministry of Education in São Filipe points out a set of actions, with emphasis on the planning of activities for the recovery and administration of essential content, preparation of a plan for recovering learning by teachers, consolidation of learning, training of teachers aiming at their professional development and the improvement of pedagogical supervision.
Actions are also planned to promote the sharing of good practices, municipal coordination – at the level of the First and Second Cycles of Compulsory Basic and Secondary Education (former Lyceum), as well as the promotion of national coordination, leveling of content and standardization ( a Nacional level).
In terms of school infrastructure and equipment, the São Filipe Delegation has a maintenance plan that is already being implemented.
Emanuel Barbosa points to the rehabilitation of the Italian Basic School (in the North) which is financed by the Luxembourg Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) ‘Beetbuerg Helleft’, with a contribution from the Ministry, in the amount of almost 2,500 contos.
A Basic School is also being built from scratch in the town of Jardim, financed by the same NGO.
Still in the field of rehabilitation, “several Basic Schools are being painted as well as the repair of school equipment”.
There are also several other interventions and school improvements, namely the sealing of the Patim School, the construction of a canteen in the Secondary School (Liceu) “Dr. Teixeira de Sousa”, in the City of São Filipe.
Social assistance
The School Canteens are in working order and hot meals are available on the first day of classes, that is, September 19th.
“The basic foodstuffs are already in São Filipe”, assures Barbosa, promising that the school “Kits” will be made available during the month of September, since the indicative lists of the beneficiaries “are already completed, including the integration of the first year students”.
Regarding school transport, the Education Delegation is working closely with the São Filipe City Council to ensure its operation, “also, from the first day of classes”.
Distance Learning Centers: “the big news”
The setting up of a Distance Learning Center (EAD), which “will be points of access and management of teacher training, is the great novelty” for the new Academic Year.
“In the case of São Filipe, the center will be installed in one of the rooms of the School Delegation. It is a physical and technological infrastructure, with bibliographic resources for technical areas, in addition to literature, multimedia resources, among others, for a true management of training”, explains Barbosa.
Thus, this center will guarantee the promotion of “actions aimed at the effective needs of the education system and professionals”, through a distance education support structure, supported by human resources in charge of coordinating and operationalizing training – at the central level. and location.
Another novelty is the opening of the Basic School of Jardim/Batente, in the South Zone of the Municipality of São Filipe, which will work with students from the First to Fourth grades.
“They will therefore stop traveling to the town of Patim to attend classes”, highlights Barbosa.
Still on the list of “news” for São Filipe, there are, among others: the implementation of the Ninth Year, at Escola de Patim (in the South Zone), in order to decongest the “Dr. Teixeira de Sousa” (in the City of São Filipe); and the allocation of hot meals to students in the Seventh and Eighth years at the two
Secondary Schools in the Municipality – “Dr. Teixeira de Sousa” and “Comandante Pedro Verona Pires” (in Ponta Verde).
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