WATCH: PN’s Julie Zahra Calls For School Reopening Plan To Be Published Without Further Delay
PN candidate Julie Zahra has called on the government to publish its school reopening strategy as soon as possible, warning it will be unacceptable to leave the announcement till late in the day again.
“The situation of uncertainty is creating excess anxiety and stress among parents, students and teachers, and we should be told what the plans and strategies are as soon as possible,” Zahra, a music teacher herself, said in a vlog.
“It would be unacceptable if we leave it to the last minute and release the plans a week in advance like what happened last year. The virus was here and is still here so we should have an idea of how certain things will work when schools reopen.”
Prime Minister Robert Abela confirmed today that the plan is for all schools to reopen in time for the next scholastic year, warning the prolonged closure of higher educational institutions meant students lost out on several formative moments.
While he warned that plans could change depending on the COVID-19 situation, he said the vaccine has “helped a lot”.
Zahra said people deserve to know the full strategy, including whether and how ‘bubble’ concepts will apply, whether tertiary education will be fully physical or an online-physical hybrid and whether different rules will apply for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
“The time has come to stop looking at this as a secondary issue; this is about working parents who are concerned about the future of our children, the upcoming generation.”
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