Joint effort must to ensure contact teaching amid pandemic

The Ministry of Education and Culture, the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL) and the Union of Students in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (SAMOK) wish to point out that by making a joint effort it is possible to ensure that contact teaching can continue.

All the parties can contribute to swiftly containing pandemic, said the Ministry of Education and Culture in a press release on Tuesday.

All students have the right to start their studies in a safe way with the view to be able to bring in much more contact teaching in higher education institutions during the autumn term.

Interaction between people, both in contact teaching and in students’ leisure activities, improves wellbeing and strengthens the spirit of community. With the pandemic still ongoing, it has become particularly important to improve both student wellbeing and the ability to study.

Monitoring data carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare have shown that the risk of COVID-19 spreading in contact teaching is low when adequate measures are followed.

Higher education institutions are very well placed to implement these measures. However, transmission chains from different leisure activities and events have been reported, and unless adequate prevention measures are in place, the risk of infection is high in the current epidemiological situation.

When organising student events that offer peer support and enable students to be acquainted, care should be taken to comply with regional and local regulations, guidelines and recommendations.

It is important that even those who have been vaccinated wear a mask, to avoid physical contact and respect safe distancing, especially indoors, to have adequate ventilation in place, to not seek the company of others if anyone has any symptoms indicative of COVID-19 and take the COVID-19 test instead that students receive a full course of COVID-19 vaccines.

This way will hopefully be able to assemble and meet people more freely later in the autumn.