(MissionNewswire) Salesian educational centers are reopening for students in Spain. Vocational training and B.A. courses have started again with face-to-face lessons. Teachers and students have been wearing masks and temperatures are being taken at the entrance to the centers as a precaution. Centers are also following social distancing in classrooms and laboratories and reinforcing strict cleaning activities.

“Participation in these conditions was better than we expected. We are all eager to recover our habits,” said Josean Prol, director of the Salesian Center in Deusto, Bilbao. “There was intense preparation by the management team in collaboration with teaching staff. We have started with mathematics and language courses for those in the fourth year of secondary school.”

José Luis Pinedo, director of the Salesian Center in Urnieta, reported that this restart has not been easy. The center has restarted in a staggered way and entry is scheduled at specific times for each group. Only those classes that need to be held at the center have restarted with the rest of the lessons still being held online.

“The safety measures are exhaustive,” said Asier Irastuza, who is on the management team at the Salesian Center in Urnieta. “We also have the unconditional collaboration of the Parents Association which, among other things, has provided each student with protective masks and sanitizing gels.”

Salesian center directors and principals are already thinking about how to get organized for September. While responding daily to all the indications that come from the educational and health authorities, the goal now is how to best plan lessons for the next school year. Most centers are looking at offering 50 percent of the lessons online while 50 percent will be held in the classroom.

Salesian missionaries have been working for many years to provide educational and workforce development opportunities for poor youth and women in Spain through residential and technical and vocational training programs.

Close to 37 percent of young Spanish workers under the age of 25 are unemployed and a growing number of them can’t afford to buy enough food to live. Poor youth with few employable skills struggle the most to find and retain stable employment. Women in Spain face inequality in the workforce. They earn up to 14 percent less than men and represent only 34.5 percent of those listed as the highest earners in Spain.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Spain – Return to school in compliance with health measures in Basque Salesian Centers

Salesian Missions – Spain

World Bank – Spain