Spanish youngsters win a free pass over the coronavirus crisis

No Spanish youngster will fail the school year over the coronavirus crisis, and only in “very exceptional” circumstances will anyone have to repeat, the Education Minister Isabel Celaa said on Wednesday.

All educational establishments in Spain have been shuttered since mid-March when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the virus that has now killed more than 18,500 people throughout the country.

With similar lockdowns across the globe keeping an estimated 850 million young people out of school, it has created an “unprecedented challenge” for governments and educators, the UN has said, with authorities now mulling the fate of the interrupted school year.

Celaa promised no child would fail the year as a result of the crisis, and authorities would provide voluntary catch-up programs over the summer.

“No child will fail the school year because of COVID-19,” she said, hailing the “patience and immense efforts” being made by children, their families and teaching staff in the face of an “unprecedented challenge.”

She said the school year would not run beyond June, without saying when schools might reopen.

“Repeating the year will be a very exceptional measure which will have to be based on a solid and very well-argued case,” Celaa said, adding students would study from home during the third and final term.