Chronicle of a counselor for education in times of pandemic

Abstract

In times of pandemic, issues multiply and the needs at the educational level uncover other needs that have an impact on other council departments. It becomes important to know WHAT to prioritize and HOW to carry out such prioritization. Networking, a working system between departments based on a project basis, support by the educational and local community and the technical feedback from city hall employees are crucial in order to face the full scale of the workaday management in a state of emergency caused by a pandemic. This includes adapting at every moment to the new decrees from the Government of Catalonia, supporting education centres to prevent that they stand alone with the new responsibilities, organising ahead proposals brought about by the new context, creating protocols for the new obligations, bringing cohesion to the local educational system from age zero to adults, and trying to minimize as much as possible the incidence of covid19 in our education centres. It must not be forgotten that the pandemic has widened the gap between certain social groups and, thus, as politicians, we must act excluding no-one and ensuring equity and the reduction of educational and social exclusion of children and youths. All this should be framed within the Pla Educatiu d’Entorn (a collaborative initiative between the Catalan Education Department and local entities) with the will to continue creating new opportunities to be and to become a village.