The FMRM meets with several AMPAS federations in the region to discuss the conditions of the school year in the municipalities due to the coronavirus pandemic
Mª Dolores Muñoz, president of the Federation of Municipalities: “The Federation supports the need to reduce the number of students per classroom and to recover the fifth school day.”
The Federation of Municipalities of the Region of Murcia held a virtual meeting yesterday with the presidents of some AMPAS federations in the region, among whom were José Antonio Abellán, president of the Confederation of Federations of Associations of Parents of Students of the Region of Murcia (CONFAPA RM) and of FAMPA Murcia; Francisco Manuel Cara, from FAMPA Lorca; and Marina González from FAMPA Cartagena and Comarca.
The president of FMRM, María Dolores Muñoz, explained that “we are focusing on reviewing all aspects of the start of the school year affected by Covid-19, and the model chosen for the development of education in Murcian centres, and everyone's position is clear: we agree on the need to reduce the number of student groups per classroom to guarantee the health of the students and to recover the fifth school day”.
The Federation of Municipalities assures that the town councils can collaborate with open or closed spaces as long as the school conditions are maintained to carry out the school bubble. This organisation has already discussed this possibility with the mayors, and many councillors at the beginning of the school year proposed this measure to the Ministries of Education and Social Policy and made their municipal spaces available.
According to the general secretary of FMRM, Manuel Pato, “both FAMPAS and the body that brings together the town councils of the region agree on the need to regulate the usual conciliation, as well as the morning and afternoon classes that today are carried out in each municipality in a different way, but we consider that the competent body to regulate this issue should be the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, that is, the regional government, and have sufficient funds so that the minimum parameters are similar throughout the region.”
For their part, the representatives of the three federations have declared that “we advocate for the in-person attendance of all students, every day of the school year, and to this end we ask the FMRM that the town councils make municipal spaces available to the Ministry of Education and Culture, in order to cover the needs of educational spaces necessary to be able to comply with the health restrictions in force today. The concern of families does not diminish when they learn about the infection rates in the Region of Murcia, but it should be noted that, given the large number of students in the centers, the percentage of infections in the classrooms is considered minimal.”
