Marius Čiurlionis, Head of the Covid-19 Operations by the Ministry of Health, notes that Lithuania experiences seasonal influenza epidemics each year, people suffer from various contagious diseases, but the extent of the coronavirus spread was much higher. As a result, educational institutions had not only announced holidays for pupils or students, but needed to quickly assess how to move the learning process into a virtual space.
In order to control the situation and stop the spread of the virus in the country, the Ministry of the Interior prepared recommendations that all institutions, including educational ones, had to follow during quarantine. The recommendations suggested how to organize public communication and work in institutions where it is impossible or difficult to work remotely and how to provide immediate services to the population.
Higher education institutions did not face any major difficulties due to these changes. According to Jolanta Navickaitė, director of the General Education Department of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, they already had their own virtual learning environment, so distance learning was a fairly common practice there.
‘On the other hand, those students who had to complete compulsory internships in the spring semester faced greater challenges as they were unable to do so due to the announced quarantine. For example, medical students could not practice remotely. So there was a discussion whether to allow students to do the internships if they are willing to take the risk. We also talked to the Ministry of Health, we looked for various solutions, ‘ said J. Navickaitė.
However, general education institutions experienced the most difficulties when it became clear that not all students had the necessary learning tools and appropriate environment. ‘In order to control the spread of the virus, we took strict measures, which required a rapid reorientation of the work of all institutions. We realized that we demanded a lot, especially from those institutions that had a harder time moving work to the virtual space. Schools, teachers and parents of students have faced perhaps the biggest challenges, but in the heat of a pandemic, ensuring the safety of students was particularly important,‘ said the Minister of the Interior Rita Tamašunienė.
Students realized it was not a game
After the announcement of the quarantine it was decided to bring forward the spring break for students as it became clear that it would not be possible to continue the learning process without proper preparation. This break lasted two weeks instead of one. During that period, it became clear what was lacking and what schools needed, the legal acts were prepared too.
According to Jolanta Navickaitė, intensive coordination with municipalities and schools took place in the first week, with suggestions on how educational institutions should move to distance learning. Later, during the second week, the schools paid more attention to the consolidation of processes in their systems, as teachers had to prepare for lessons and get acquainted with platforms.
The ministry reassured educators that it was senseless to set high ambitions and goals in the first weeks - it was hard to expect that everything would go smoothly, and a quality of learning process would be ensured. The biggest challenge was that some students did not have the means to participate in virtual lessons.
‘Parents started working remotely, so some people lacked IT equipment in families where there are more than one child, some lacked space. It took time to set up suitable work and study places, ‘ said J. Navickaitė.
It became clear during the first week that about 35 thousand students do not have the proper computer and internet connection required for remote learning. ‘We have all realized that in the long run it will be necessary to provide children with opportunities for distance learning, so it was important to optimize processes and shorten procedures so that the equipment needed for distance learning would be purchased as soon as possible, ‘ claimed Tamašunienė. Experts analysed where and how much tablets could be bought. Over time, purchases were made and tablets were distributed to students.
Until then, schools were looking for solutions to involve students in the learning process. Some students were handed out school computers, and those who did not have an internet connection were assisted by social workers or eldership workers: they handed over tasks to students until tablets became available.
The Mayor of Jonava and the President of the Association of Local Authorities Mindaugas Sinkevičius noticed that it was necessary to ensure the safe use of tablets for schools. ‘I remember telling my team: look, we’re going to get piles of all kinds of tablets now, maybe we should insure them? Therefore, we had to do this, because tablets could be lost, stolen or even sold by parents with harmful habits. This raised all sorts of questions.
But we should see certain positive points of this situation. We kept talking about digital schools so the transition to a technological world was faster. I think that both children and teachers have acquired skills and managed to adapt well to this whole situation, ‘ noted M. Sinkevičius.
J. Navickaitė has noticed the same thing. She said, that many students have realized that they are responsible for how much they learn during lessons. ‘Some students thought they wouldn’t attend schools for two weeks and things would get back to normal soon. However, after two weeks of schooling, there has been a change in children's minds that it is not a joke, but a new reality, ‘ said the director of the General Education Department.
New lessons and experience
During the quarantine, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports was in constant contact with educational institutions, it also provided recommendations. Schools themselves have been encouraged to monitor the learning process too. This made it possible to see what functions well and what doesn't. ‘We organized online conferences with the schools‘ deputy heads in charge of the educational process every Wednesday and shared various solutions to educational process. Already at the end of spring, we recommended that schools make their own decisions on a single platform for remote learning and so on, ‘ said Navickaitė.
A number of schools have organized various trainings for teachers during summer. It was done in order to strengthen the digital competence of teacher. The National Agency for Education and partners offered free trainings on teleworking. Legislation has also been clarified and supplemented by regular provisions that an epidemic or pandemic may be a normal occurrence in everyday life. This means, that even due to the flu epidemic, the quarantine announced at schools would not mean that there are no lessons taking place, students would simply start remote learning. This would apply in the event of extreme cold or heat too.
Before the new academic year, the decision was made to organize learning by streams, which also raised various questions. ‘According to the decision of the operations manager, the schools were obliged to regulate the flow of students so that the students, who normally learn in different classrooms, would not meet in the corridors.
However, as early as spring, schools shared their experiences and generated new ideas on how to ensure safety in schools. For example, the Lithuanian Children and Youth Centre painted its school with colours and made directions for children. It was fun to see how this practice spread through Lithuania and schools became colourful. There is more confidence in completely non-traditional, own solutions, ‘ J. Navickaitė shared one of the examples of good practice.
At the start of the school year, coronavirus outbreaks were not avoided in schools. ‘I think that if there is a concentration of people, there is a greater risk of getting the disease too, and social contact is inevitable. It is impossible for all teenagers to stay in their classrooms and later keep calm in corridors. Of course, it can be said that there are several thousand educational institutions in our country, so several cases are not such a tragic situation. Still, it is worrying. But if quarantine were reintroduced, I think we could return to teleworking and remote learning, and nothing bad would happen,‘ said M. Sinkevičius.
In most Lithuanian schools, streaming learning continues in accordance with the relevant safety requirements. Meanwhile, high schools continue the blended learning approach.
Information of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania
