The third term will begin on April 14, but classroom and on-site training activities remain suspended in schools, and basic education will continue until the end of the distance school year, through DTT, in a TeleSchool model, such as the 10th year, while the 11th and 12th year will be able to resume face-to-face classes, ensuring social distance. These are some of the measures that were taken yesterday by the Government in the Council of Ministers, which also decided to cancel several exams and tests, and to postpone others, ending the third period on June 26, 2020.
The press conference after the Council of Ministers was long and was led by Prime Minister Antnio Costa, who personally explained the measures to be applied, and answered questions from journalists, assuming that the next school year will require an additional effort for everyone to recover their learnings. In fact, the Government will work on two different plans, which will be measured with the evolution of the epidemiological situation, stating that it prefers to resume face-to-face classes in the 11th and 12th year during the month of May, in the 22 subjects that are relevant for access to the University education.
The inequality in access to technological tools that allow access to distance learning has been one of the concerns, with the registration of students who do not have internet access at home, or computers that allow them to do their jobs or attend classes online.
Regarding the extension of the closure of schools in the third period, Antnio Costa let out a "commitment" for the next school year, a program that guarantees access to computers and the internet, a kind of Magellan or e-school 2.0 for students of basic and secondary, how to write the TSF.
The Prime Minister stated that, in order to combat inequalities, he wants all students to have access to equipment and the internet. For some students it will be an "effort" soon, but the measure will be "universal" in the next school year. He admitted that a "double effort" is being made to combat inequalities and allow all students to have access to essential tools for distance learning.
"A commitment that I am in a position to assume that, at the beginning of the next academic year, whatever happens, we have guaranteed the universality of access to digital platforms, whether in network or in equipment, for all basic and secondary students. "said Antnio Costa during the briefing of the Council of Ministers.
The Prime Minister stressed that an effort will be made to "be able to support high school students who do not have the necessary equipment or access to the network" in order to have the best quality possible in distance learning. This seems like an effort for the short term, considering that 11th and 12th year olds will even take national exams.
The preparation of content for the Tele-school is another concern, since this is the model foreseen for all years of basic education, and the set of subjects for students to take classes via television, and Antnio Costa recalls that he is working on this subject with the RTP. The issuance of educational content will start on the next 20th on RTP Memria, which is accessible by cable, satellite and DTT. "This effort is complementary and does not replace the work that teachers did with students and it is essential that they continue to do with their students, as they did in these first two weeks of interruption", he justifies.
The e-school or the e-school program was not specifically mentioned, which guaranteed access to computers and broadband internet access to primary and secondary school students from 2008. For the little ones the computers were Magalhes, developed by JP S Couto, and that marked a generation.
The preparation of schools in terms of computer equipment reached the best rates in Portugal during this period, together with the Technological Plan for Schools, which also provided equipment for classrooms.
