Coronavirus Helsinki schools started in the shadow of sick leave and coronavirus – “Frankly, it annoyed me to come to school”

Helsinki Pupils of Pukinmäenkaari Primary School’s 9B sports class Veera Kotkaslahti, Noona Puustinen and Noa Mäkeläinen stand at break on the first day of school. They say the coronation situation was a topic of conversation with friends right from the start of the day.

“We guessed how long it would take to be quarantined. Personally, I guessed the whole school would go to a distance school in a week. Some guessed that they would be quarantined within a couple of weeks, ”says Noona Puustinen.

The entire Class 9B has already been quarantined in the fall of the eighth grade due to a corona case detected in the class.

Principal of Pukinmäenkaari Primary School Leena Hiillos says that on the first day of school, about twenty students and teachers were away and not all of the teachers were away because of the corona.

“However, we have more than a thousand students and teaching staff.”

Hiillos says there are only individual families who have kept the child at home because of the risk of infection. There are people at risk in these families.

Similar the situation was also on Monday at 900 pupils and more than 100 employees at Myllypuro Primary School.

“About 20-30 students are out, which is somewhat more than usual, but not exceptionally much,” the principal of Myllypuro Primary School Anna Hirvonen said.

The corona situation in the entire Helsinki primary school could not be reported on Monday in the education and training sector in Helsinki.

Both principals are pleased that there was no transition to distance school. Leena Hiillos points out that since Pukinmäki also has a unified primary school from the first to the ninth grade, distance school would not have been of much use.

“Upper school students would have been in a distance school and elementary school students in a local school and in both groups would be children from the same families.”

According to the principals, the most difficult thing for the school during the Korona period was that the instructions change rapidly.

“So far, the data from the epidemiological unit have been awaited. Isolation and quarantine are no longer kept up to date, leaving little to be decided by the guardians on how they operate. We do not order quarantines at school, ”says Hirvonen.

In Siltamäe resident Noa Mäkeläinen would have stayed at a distance school rather than come to a nearby school at Pukinmäenkaari.

“Frankly, it annoyed me to come to school after the holidays. During previous distance school periods, my grades have risen, it has been peaceful to study at home, ”says Mäkeläinen.

Puustinen, who lives in Suutarila, was happy to come to school so that everyday life doesn’t just go to bed at home. It was also nice to come to school from Veera Kotkaslahti, but it would be a good idea for her to go back to the distance school for a while.

“It’s good to come to school to get my rhythm back when I wake up late on holiday. At school I get to see friends. In a distance school, on the other hand, it is more relaxed, there is no need to spend time on school trips, ”says Kotkaslahti, who lives in Tapaninvainio.

Corona situation they were not excited at school, nor was there any fear of returning to a nearby school. There was more talk at home about the importance of masks and hand hygiene.

According to Mäkeläinen, masks are often forgotten at school, for example in dining, and the school corridors are so congested that it is impossible to keep safety distances.

“It doesn’t really even fit in the class to keep safety gaps, we’re really close. Most of them keep a mask in class, ”says Kotkaslahti.