The Teacher Training College for Teachers of the Future in Maputo resumed classes in person on September 8 the classes as part of the slowdown of some measures of prevention of COVID-19 in the country. In the first phase, 56 students from the second year of the 10+3 model of teacher training resumed classes, and it is expected that 59 more students from the first year of the 12+3 model will be integrated until next October, in a total of 115 students registered when classes started at the beginning of the school year.
Sarmento Preço, Director of the TTC Maputo, explains in detail some measures adopted for the reception of students and to ensure a safe resumption of classes in the new context. “As this is a public health issue, as soon as the willingness to resume classes in person was expressed, we started with a thorough work of restructuring our school in order to adapt it to the new reality and ensure greater safety of our trainees”.
Of the structural changes adopted throughout the establishment, the main interventions were made in the classrooms to maintain the physical distance between the trainees, by replacing the previous classrooms that housed 20 students in each for two larger halls with capacity for 28 trainees in each; the interdiction of access to the library by the trainees to avoid agglomeration and shared use of consultation materials, so that the consultation of the material passed to the responsibility of the trainer and then its sharing with the students; the reorganization of the cafeteria, dormitories and bathrooms, and the existence of signage throughout the school grounds as a way to ensure safe circulation of trainees.
“I received the information about the return to classes with satisfaction and concern, but after my arrival at the school all the fear disappeared because I realized that the conditions that the school started to adopt provide an environment of security and tranquillity. We found the school all well organized and with all the conditions for a safe resumption of classes” – says Arlete Nhantumbo, a third year graduate of the 10+3 year model at the Maputo Teachers’ School.