The Education Ministry has issued instructions to schools and kindergartens for their gradual re-opening, which note that up to 10-15 children are allowed to sit in a single classroom in primary and secondary schools, and up to 8-10 children in an individual kindergarten group.
The up-to-ten student limit will apply for the first three grades of primary school, while the up-to-15 student limit will apply for the ninth grade of primary schools and the final grade of secondary schools.
Students of the remaining grades in primary and secondary schools are expected to continue to be schooled remotely.
The recommendations obtained by the STA also note that all school employees and nine-graders will be required to wear face masks – nine-graders only outside their classroom and employees all the time.
In kindergartens, a group in the first age category (one to three years) may count up to eight children, and up to ten children in the second category (four to six years).
Employees in kindergartens are advised to wear face masks, especially when they encounter colleagues or parents of the children.
Secondary school students will have to bring a signed statement confirming that they did not have Covid-19 symptoms in the last 14 days and that they were not in contact with an infected person.
For primary school children and kindergarten children, such statement will have to be signed by their parents.
For the time being, kindergartens are expected to open on 18 May, and students in the first three grades of primary school are also expected to go back to school on the same day.
Ninth-graders are expected to return to school on 25 May, but a final decision needs to be confirmed by the government, which will discuss this next Wednesday or Thursday.
