Covid Guidelines 2021 for DTSs affected by the COvid-19 virus restrictions.

In this extended time of the global pandemic, the IDTSC seeks to be flexible to support Base and School leaders as you lead your DTS in this season. We look forward to the time this pandemic is behind us and we are able to run our schools in the freedom and according to the full guidelines God has given us. In the meantime, please see the instructions below.

The DTS must complete at least 11 weeks of the lecture phase.

We realize students may have to quarantine upon arrival. If possible, have them arrive early for quarantine.

We realize you may have an outbreak of Covid-19 on your base. This may result in some students being in quarantine for 10 to 14 days. Please do what you can to keep those students connected to the group and the process via zoom or other means.

If necessary, we will permit up to 2 weeks for 11 week lecture phase and 3 weeks for a 12 week lecture phase where all students and staff are at a distance through zoom (or other technology). Staff must create a 50 hour learning week including worship, intercession, teaching, small groups, one on ones etc. If zoom is not available, find ways to engage the students in a 50 hour learning week that will work for them. This must include some way of staff - student communication to validate participation and completion. In this case, please contact your IDTSC coordinator for your region to help you problem-solve how to do this in a way that meets guidelines. We will also take into consideration what the outreach plans will be for these students before we accept this as a completed DTS. The school leadership would create a course instance and register the students and grades as normal. Credit will be given according to the number of weeks completed.

Outreach Phase

Plan to engage in at least 8 weeks of outreach.

Follow as many of the fruitful practice guidelines as possible.

Travel outside of the lecture phase location may not be possible because of Covid-19 restrictions. Outreaches in the same location/nation are acceptable at this time. Do look for cross cultural experiences even in this situation.

Outside activities may be limited due to Covid-19 restrictions. It may not be possible for personal live conversations with people. This is a great opportunity to keep all the restrictions in mind and ask God for creative ways to serve people and share Jesus, in mercy ministry, intercession, bible distribution, make your own written or on-line gospel communication, text message and more.

If outreach is cut short due to unexpected changes in Covid-19 restrictions, we will accept the number of weeks completed. In this case students who completed the lecture phase and this shorter outreach will have successfully completed the DTS. Therefore students may be accepted into YWAM and future UofN schools. School leadership needs to create a course instance and register the students and grades as normal. Please date the outreach from the time the outreach began to the time the team broke up on the field and were sent home. An appropriate number of credits will be assigned according to the number of weeks completed.

A location can postpone the outreach phase until a later time when it is possible to reconvene the teams and send them out as normal.

If it is impossible to create an outreach due to Covid-19 restrictions, please contact the IDTSC coordinator for your region.