Minister of Education Li Andersson (Left) has said that schools move to distance learning only a "last resort" measure, although the coronavirus situation in Finland continues to deteriorate.
The minister added that he believes children and young people will return to classrooms normally when schools reopen around the country next week.
"With regard to primary and secondary schools, I emphasize that the need for contact teaching is enormous," Andersson told Yle. "It is known that the past year has had a major impact on the well-being of children and young people, and it has also created a learning gap in both primary and secondary education. Returning to contact teaching is very important for well-being and closing this learning gap."
Andersson also noted that the government stated during the spring that restrictions on children and young people must always be a last resort, meaning that all other restrictions must be applied first.
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The Minister commented afterwards Kirsi Varhila, The head of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health told Yle’s A-studio’s current affairs program on Wednesday evening that contact teaching can be restricted as Finland’s infectious disease grows.
The health agency THL has reported more than 600 cases on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and 765 infections have been registered on Thursday.
Restrictions on bars, restaurants take precedence
The THL and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health announced earlier on Thursday that the number of young people infected with the coronavirus has increased significantly over the past two weeks, especially among the 18-21 age group.
"Our starting point is that Contact Hours will be held in the fall. If the coronavirus situation requires further restrictions, other means must be used to reduce the number of infections among young adults before large-scale distance learning can even be discussed," Andersson said, adding that restrictions on bars and restaurants could be a more effective way to curb the spread of infections among younger age groups.
"I think it is likely that the government will have to renegotiate the restrictions on bars and restaurants and what else is needed to control the situation," he said.
The government has imposed some restrictions on bars and restaurants in all areas deemed to be in the process of accelerating the pandemic, which will take effect from this Saturday.
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"I also consider it important that the vaccination situation is discussed in the government and that vaccinations progress as quickly as possible. Currently, young adults have access to a coronavirus vaccine. How can we emphasize more the need to get the vaccine," the minister said.
However, due to local infection groups, some primary and secondary schools may still need to resort to distance learning or use a hybrid model of distance learning and contact hours.
Amendments to the Basic Education Act allow municipalities to introduce exceptional measures if the coronavirus situation in the area so requires.
"Extensive national distance education policy has not been discussed. The government agreed last spring that such guidelines would no longer be given to basic education," Andersson said.
The government will discuss the strategy next week
The Finnish government plans to discuss the current pandemic prevention strategy at next week’s meeting, and Andersson told Yle that the restrictions will be discussed again.
He added that since the majority of the population has still not received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine, the introduction of vaccinations is also being discussed, and the possibility that vaccination for 12-15 year olds could start in August.
Andersson said the introduction of vaccinations is important because restrictions cannot be maintained indefinitely.
"For children and young people, this time has already been too long," he said and added that he was open-minded about the introduction of the corona passport as it could alleviate the plight of the cultural and event industry.
In an interview with Yle, Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilรค (Cen) said he believes a simple update to the current strategy is not enough, but a whole new plan is needed to deal with infectious cases and virus variants.
"This will certainly be discussed in the government," Lintilรค said. "There has been a lot of talk that instead of infection rates, more attention should be paid to health care capacity, vaccine coverage, and vaccination progress."
Andersson said the governmentโs strategy will be fully updated to reflect the new situation.
"The challenge here is that when the whole population does not yet have two doses of vaccine, in this situation we are forced to apply some kind of hybrid strategy," he said.
Source: The Nordic Page