Students from the University of La Laguna describe the decision to maintain face-to-face classes in all faculties as “illogical”, despite the fact that Tenerife is currently at level 4 health alert and with all its incidents (IA) at risk extreme. “The ULL brought forward the Christmas holidays due to the increase in infections in December. Now, that we are in a much less favorable climate, with more incidence and more infections per day, especially in young people, it is decided that classes continue to be face-to-face “, points out the students. In this way, an initiative of collection of signatures on the Change.org platform so that the classes are online, and almost 4,000 rubrics have already been collected.
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In December 2020, when the island was facing the third wave of infections and in full alert level 3, the ULL decided to switch to the non-face-to-face teaching model, also the first semester exams were carried out online. This situation continued until the second week of February, when the infections subsided. Now, with a more extreme picture, this does not appear to be a viable option for college.
“In the classes, the interpersonal safety distance recommended by the health authorities is not always respected, there is no disinfection of seats and students are sometimes seen indoors without masks. These events that have been happening since the beginning of the course demonstrate the impossibility of guaranteeing the student safety, despite many preventive measures that may be applied “, they delve into the petition.
On the other hand, they criticize that the protocol to postpone the exams for students who are positive in SARS-CoV-2 “supposes a violation of the principle of equal opportunities, since, once the student joins, they will have all the exams in little time, thus being more difficult to perform adequately in the tests “, they conclude.
“As a group of students of the ULL we prefer, in a sanitary safe scenario, the presence of the classes. However, the current situation implies a real risk”, therefore, they ask that the university opt for a telematic teaching model, ” not only for the safety of its students, but also for simple social work that prevents the increase in infections in the Archipelago. ”
