Mexico.- The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is preparing for the full return to face-to-face classes contemplating the return to the classrooms of his community integrated by case 400 thousand people within two to four weeks.
Leaving aside the political pressures that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been the target of in recent months, the highest house of studies in Mexico is carrying out the pertinent analyzes to guarantee a safe return to the classrooms in the midst of the fourth wave of Covid-19 driven by the omicron variant.
In an interview for Millenniumthe general secretary of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Leonardo Lomeli Vanegasreferred that the academic institution is committed to a safe return to face-to-face classes.
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“It would be worse if we went back and had to go back into confinement due to a massive contagion, I think we have to create the conditions so that the return can take place and can be sustained once this can happen,” he said.
Next Monday, January 31, the 2022-2 semester will begin with activities that will mostly be remote, but it is planned that from between two to four weeks they can have greater face-to-face participation.
He explained that, while the students of the careers that require labs or internshipssuch as those of biological sciences and health, will return to classrooms with controlled capacity, those students who take more theoretical degrees will remain at a distance.
“Our scenario is that in two to four more weeks, depending on how this fourth outbreak of the pandemic evolves, we could already have most of the face-to-face activities, at this time the decision that the faculties and schools have made has predominantly been to stay online,” said Lomelí Villegas.
Given the attacks that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made against UNAM for not returning to the face-to-face class scheme, the general secretary commented that the highest house of studies understands and shares the concern of the Federal Executive, however, it is aware that The country is in the midst of the fourth wave of the health emergency.
“We understand and share the President’s concern, we believe that it is very important to resume face-to-face activities, but we are aware that we are in a very acute moment of contagion and that given the characteristics of the University, the size of the University, this could take us that if we resume all activities in person, there would be many infections that perhaps would force us in a few days to have to suspend many activities,” he said.
Given this, the official pointed out that it is best to keep classes at a distance while the peak of the fourth wave of infections in the country passeswhich, according to experts, will take place between 2 to 4 weeks.
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“In that sense, the forecast is that we gain more if we still keep a distance of two to four weeks, which is what specialists believe this peak of the fourth wave of infections will last, than if we return now and expose our population to get infected,” he said.
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