Mad compromise of the moment

Medicine, Politics 1 Minute

The Belgium National Security Council met on Thursday to come up with new measures to address the public concern surrounding the coronavirus. They have come up with a number of measures that, essentially, amount to cancelling weekends and, bizarrely:

All classes at school will be suspended, but schools will be asked to provide care, especially for parents who are unable to look after their children during school hours. The Prime Minister has called for children not to be taken care of by grandparents.

In other words, schools will remain both open and closed until the end of the month.

According to Politico, this is the result of disagreement between Flemish and French-speaking politicians:

Whereas French-speaking politicians wanted to close down all schools in Belgium, as is now the case in France, Flemish politicians were more reluctant to do so, fearing an economic shock. A compromise was found by suspending all classes but not closing all schools.

After the press conference, Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon stressed that schools are not shutting down completely. “Closing all schools would be a problem for people who work in the health sector or for parents whose children can only be cared for by grandparents. That is precisely the most vulnerable group. Parents who can’t find a solution for their children can still rely on schools.”

I am certainly sympathetic to the view that offloading kids onto grandparents — the most vulnerable group — for the best part of three weeks would be insane. But if schools are going to stay partly open, I don’t see the value in not keeping them fully open.

Then again, it probably shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that the country that gave us Magritte would also be the first country to invent Schrödinger’s School.

Published by Paul

Reader of books, watcher of films, player of games. British father of three, now living in Belgium and making a living from building interfaces.

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7 thoughts on “Mad compromise of the moment”

  1. Ha. I like that. Principal Schrodinger, or The Beak as we used to call our Headmaster. It’s quite clear though. If your grandmother is French speaking they can look after their French grandchildren, unless their husband is Flemish in which case they have to go to a Flemish creche, unless they have a Dutch speaking Aunt living in Wallonia who knows a Walloon teacher who owns a Dutch dog, then they can attend a school in Brussels.

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    1. Spring break for us was at the end of February, and the Easter break starts in April. So there’s three days between the current shutdown and normal holidays — I won’t be surprised if the schools don’t bother re-opening for those three days.

      The worst part is that all of the youth club and sporting activities have also been cancelled, which means that the boys are all going to be stuck at home all weekend. My peace will be shattered!

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      1. Us too. All sports finished/canceled, possibly for the season, and the spring stuff (baseball) on hold. Or will be (I haven’t checked every freaking email yet).

        I feel you. I get it, with 3 active boys. My challenge will be to disconnect the teen, force him out of the basement and into some fresh air. 🙂

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        1. Good luck with your teen. At least, for us, the weather forecast for the weekend is dry, so once we get the boys outside we should be able to keep them there.

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