The past few months have been complex and challenging. The new coronavirus drastically disrupted routines, and many chose to stay in homes to care for their children, considering it the safest space. Yuniaski, on the other hand, could not do it due to the job responsibility that she occupy; despite the fear that sometimes invaded her, her girl kept attending the childcare center even in the most tense weeks of the pandemic.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Yuniaski Rodríguez Polanco works as a commercial specialist in the Business Unit of Various Productions (Provari) of the Ministry of the Interior in Las Tunas, and her little María Isabela Cordobés Rodríguez is in the sixth year of life in the Pequeños Capullos childcare center, of this city. "My Company is engaged in activities such as the manufacture of construction materials and textile clothing," she says.
“We provide blocks and floor tiles that are destined for the Housing Program, particularly for subsidies, and it was necessary to continue producing these and other resources. On the other hand, I felt that my daughter was safe, because I saw the care they had and that is why I continued taking her. At first I was afraid, but then it disappeared because they gave me a lot of confidence."
María Isabela attends her classroom every day, now with more friends, but with the same system of rules that kept her safe in the previous stage. “When we arrive, the nurse receives us and always asks us how she is, if she feels well, if we have observed her. Her hands are washed frequently, everyone (infants and workers) uses the facemasks, there is a lot of hygiene, they talk with her and they explain everything she must do to protect herself. They support us a lot at every moment,” Yuniaski says.
Her teacher, according to the mother, has not missed a day. Reviews the contents of the grade and organizes various activities. "I am very grateful for the care they provide there and because at no time, despite the circumstances, they have stopped teaching them."
THE FUNCTIONS ARE RETURNED, THE MEASURES ARE KEPT
The work of the childcare centers involves by nature a high responsibility and the mission of caring for the infants in the middle of the COVID-19 was a commitment that was especially fulfilled by the educators from Las Tunas, who delivered them every afternoon to their parents without any case of contagion among them.
Of the 29 centers of this type that the province has, 24 remained open according to the demand, with an attendance of about 100 to 200 children a day throughout the territory, a figure well below the more than five thousand enrollment of this educational level. This was commented to 26Digital by Yanara Campaña Mariné, head of the Department of Early Childhood in the Provincial Directorate of Education.
The directive reported that after the transition of Las Tunas to the recovery stage, all the facilities are open and fulfilling their usual functions, with a considerable increase in attendance, which now exceeds 1,500 children. From now on, she pointed out, the various sanitary and hygienic measures will continue to be taken into account to avoid the possible spread of the virus.
Campaña Mariné emphasized that all mothers who need it can bring their children to the educational centers, whether they are from the state or non-state sector, and that the conditions are created to receive them. She clarified that there is no type of restriction in this regard, nor is it required to deliver a letter certifying that you are already incorporated into your job.
The directive informed that the provisions guided by the Ministry of Education such as flexibility in the hours of entry and exit and respect for the family's decision to take their children or not, without conceiving limits of absences, continue to be in force. She recalled that "the parents deliver them at the entities’ door to the assistants, thus avoiding the excessive flow of people inside the buildings and in the afternoon they also pick them up in the lobby."
The little ones should carry their mask and four others in their bag, in order to be able to change them every three hours accordingly. During nap time, the cots will be placed more than a meter away from each other and all the spaces of the installation will be used, such as corridors, dressing rooms and cabinets, depending on achieving physical distance.
Teachers, she reiterated, have the mission of ensuring strict compliance with sanitary protocols such as frequent ingestion of water, establishing a certain distance when speaking, reminding them that when coughing or sneezing they must cover their mouths with their forearms and frequent hand washing. In relation to this last orientation, she stated that in the case of minors, it should be done only with soap and water, since it is not recommended that they are exposed to chlorine.
The head of the Department of Early Childhood said that all childcare centers are guaranteed water supply, as well as resources for food, personal hygiene of infants and cleaning of facilities.
