Ombudsman demands face-to-face classes for all students
By The Star Staff
Ombudsman Edwin García Feliciano asked Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia on Monday to immediately allow face-to-face classes without exception to all students in all schools.
“We are playing with the future of all of Puerto Rico,” García Feliciano said in a written statement. “Of course we have to fight the spread of COVID! But not for that must we continue limiting the educational and learning opportunities of our students.”
“At this time, there are no major reasons to prohibit face-to-face education for the unvaccinated, when it is always possible to provide for distancing, the use of masks and periodic tests for the entire school population, if that is strictly necessary,” he added.
The ombudsman said the fact that a student is not vaccinated does not mean that his attendance at face-to-face classes represents a greater risk of infecting others, or that he would be more exposed to being infected.
“Each day that passes without the student attending the classroom, we undermine his/her educational, social, and recreational development,” García Feliciano said. “In short, against its integral development and against the future of Puerto Rico. It is a very expensive price that we should not continue to pay.”