The Spanish Federation of Large Families (FEFN) has welcomed the fact that the new school year in Spain will be face-to-face for several reasons, the most important of which is the benefit for students, from an academic and emotional point of view, and because it guarantees equal opportunities and minimises social differences in access to digital media. The president of the FEFN, José Manuel Trigo, highlights in this sense, “the disastrous consequences that online teaching has had for children from families with limited economic resources, who do not have the necessary equipment and therefore do not have the same opportunities”.
But the FEFN also believes that the return to school has another important advantage, which is for parents when it comes to reconciling work and family life. “In these months of pandemic we have seen that teleworking is a very valid option, which experts say is here to stay. But unfortunately it is something that is not available to all families. Although you can telework, if you have several children at home, as in large families, it is very difficult to attend to work properly, answer calls or have a meeting and at the same time be aware of the children, act as a teacher and help them with their online classes,” says José Manuel Trigo.
The FEFN trusts that the control of the pandemic will evolve favourably so that families will have some respite this year, after the physical and emotional burden they have endured over the last year, even in cases where there have been face-to-face classes, as many families have gone through multiple quarantines. For this reason, the FEFN calls for vigilance to be maintained and for an effort to be made in terms of resources to be able to control the situation and minimise the risks of contagion and the corresponding confinements: “Think of families with 3, 4, 5 or more children, who often come home from school with a possible contagion… it is a great upheaval for the whole family and there are parents who cannot telework”, he explains.
The FEFN is calling for exhaustive control and monitoring of prevention measures, such as ventilation, the use of masks, etc., especially taking into account the increase in the ratio and the shorter distance between students that has been established this year, so that there is no increase in cases of contagion.
