The concern for the integrity of Unicamp students, teachers and employees during the coronavirus pandemic goes beyond the fundamental medical care provided by the University's health units and the research carried out by the Unicamp Task Force against Covid-19. With the suspension of face-to-face activities and the need to maintain social isolation, the Executive Directorate of Human Rights (DEDH), through Unicamp Volunteering, started to take care of the well-being of the entire university community on different fronts, from the concern to guarantee everyone conditions so that students could follow classes and carry out their activities remotely, to offering of comfort for those who need to vent their anxieties or simply change the subject and talk.
According to professor Josianne Cerasoli, member of DEDH and coordinator of the Human Rights Observatory, Unicamp has an advantage for the development of these actions, which are the already established structure and organization of the Student Support Service (SAE), a body that, among other duties, is responsible for identifying and providing support to low-income students at the University through the payment of scholarships and other social programs. "The SAE was strategic because, immediately, we already had a list of people who, potentially, would be more vulnerable and would have the most urgent need for equipment, internet access, conditions to be able to study", assesses Josianne.
Equipment loan and technological inclusion
Soon after the suspension of in-person activities, one of the first campaigns developed by DEDH was to loan equipment, such as computers, laptops and tablets, so that students could follow remote classes and continue carrying out their activities. To this end, Unicamp units carried out a survey of machines that were not in use and could be borrowed. Before being sent to students, the equipment was sanitized and underwent technical reviews and software updates. Around 300 tablets were also purchased, with resources obtained from donations, to increase the number of students who could be served. Around 460 pieces of equipment have already been loaned to students who expressed the need and the demand continues to be met by volunteers.
In addition to loaning equipment, students were also able to access chips for internet access. Through a partnership with the operator Claro, 500 chips with a 10 Gb monthly package were distributed to students who do not have internet access, especially to indigenous students who returned home to their communities. "We sent the chips by post to those who were very far away. This reached, above all, the villages, which are in more isolated regions of the country. We have done everything possible to ensure that everyone who asks us is answered", says Josianne. The partnership with the operator is in the process of being renewed for the second semester.
In total, more than 700 students, including undergraduate, postgraduate and ProFIS students, benefited. For the entire action to be carried out, DEDH had the support of the Computing Institute (IC), from the Educational Technologies Management Group (GGTE), from the Teaching and Learning Support Space (EA²), the Unicamp Printing Office and the Dean of Undergraduate Studies (PRG). Josianne highlights the concern in guaranteeing students the possibility of connection during the pandemic period as a way for them to maintain communication with the University and the world. "If they didn't have the equipment, perhaps I wouldn't be able, as a teacher, to even know that they might have some difficulty getting on with the semester. The fundamental question that drives us is understanding the role of equipment and connection today as a form of inclusion ", emphasizes the teacher.
Talking we understand each other
With the aim of also offering support to those who feel the need to talk about the feelings that this whole situation provokes, Unicamp Volunteering started the Chamada Solidária project. The demand was great and the initiative evolved into the Solidarity Conversation Circle. Professor Sônia Seixas, coordinator of Unicamp Volunteering, explains how it works in an interview with TV Unicamp.
Attention to indigenous students and the community
Since 2018, Unicamp has held the Indigenous Entrance Exam, a selection method that seeks to increase diversity among the University's students. Last year, 96 places were offered for this form of entry. In addition to being part of the student body, indigenous students have a network of academic and social support to help them stay at Unicamp. During the pandemic, this support had to be intensified, especially for those who chose to remain in Campinas. Volunteers linked to DEDH ensure that they have access to health services and provide guidance on how to prevent coronavirus contagion.
"There is a different characteristic of indigenous students: in general, they come with their family, they don't come alone. So the housing received several actions, both to provide clothes for the winter, because the majority comes from the North, and specific guidance on how to obtain health care for the family that Unicamp could not provide", explains professor Josianne.
Another action developed is with the community. Coordinated by Silvia Santiago, professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM), volunteers provide medical assistance to people who are part of risk groups, such as diabetics and hypertensive patients, who no longer carry out necessary follow-up care at health units in Campinas due to the reduction in elective care and the concentration of team efforts to meet the demand caused by Covid-19.
Testing and new behaviors in Student Housing
With around 900 places, Unicamp Student Housing is home to students from outside the Metropolitan Region of Campinas who are unable to support themselves in the city with their own resources. There, coronavirus care needed to be reinforced, from attention to the emergence of possible cases, to forms of coexistence in the place.
"Housing has a contradiction: it was designed to be a space for conviviality, for sharing spaces, and it is very efficient at that. But what we need today is isolation (laughs)", reflects Josianne. In order for this isolation, which is necessary at the moment, to be fulfilled, a care manual was created for students, with guidelines such as cleaning environments, shopping, use of community spaces, everything so that they can go through this period in a safer way.
The site also received collective testing, necessary to identify and isolate possible cases of Covid-19. The action was also organized by professor Silvia Santiago and had the support of volunteer students from the Unicamp medical course.
"The medical students are desperate to help, but they still can't. But as volunteers, in actions like this, they can. It was very interesting, almost all of them said that they had never set foot in the house, that they didn't know what it was like, and It's a really cool space there", recalls Josianne.
Planning for the second semester
The perspective is that a large part of Unicamp's academic activities will still be carried out remotely during the second half of 2020. Although many of the actions have already been established, volunteer work continues and is now meeting new demands that are beginning to to emerge. Josianne mentions, for example, the need to encourage units to check whether they still have other equipment that can be loaned to students who still express the need. Another new situation is how to provide maintenance for computers, laptops and tablets that have some type of defect.
The teacher also analyzes that, based on the experience of the first semester, many issues can be foreseen and dimensioned, including in the organization of subjects and in the way in which teachers prepare their content for remote access. "It is already very clear to us that, for the second semester, it will be necessary for teachers to adapt their content a little more. For example, not sending very heavy videos for students to download, this is more difficult. Maybe if a YouTube channel closed to students, so they don't need to download the videos, it's already a technical possibility", he comments.
But she highlights that the result of the efforts undertaken by everyone, not just the members of DEDH, has been very positive, especially when identifying that networks of collaboration and solidarity have been consolidated, ensuring that the University continues to be a space for construction not just knowledge, but also a more inclusive society. "There are some gestures that happen along the way that I, as a teacher and as a member of the Executive Board of Human Rights, will not soon forget", summarizes Josianne.
