Classes began again in Romania after the summer holidays,
\nbeing held in-person in most schools, but with special measures in place. It’s
\nthe second year that children and teens begin school during the pandemic, with
\nthe number of new daily cases almost double this time last year. The majority
\nof Romania’s three million children in school and pre-school education will be physically
\npresent in class, but there are almost a few thousand who will begin the new
\nschool year remotely because of the high number of coronavirus cases where they
\nlive or because various repair works carried out in their schools have not been
\nfinalised yet. Education minister Sorin C\u00eempeanu explains:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
2,400 children are studying in the 12 localities where
\nthe infection rate hit six per 1,000 on Friday. We should add to this the
\nschools with infrastructure problems. So, another 2,000 around the country,
\n2,723 in Bucharest, in total 7,000 pupils out of three million will have to
\nstudy remotely.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to the authorities, classes will be held in
\nperson, with face masks mandatory, until the infection rate hits 6 per 1,000
\ninhabitants in the respective locality, when all pupils will switch to online
\nlearning, with the exception of those in the special education system and cr\u00e8ches
\nand kindergartens. Prime minister Florin C\u00ee\u0163u asked public health directorates
\nto make sure enough face masks are available in schools and warned that situations
\nstill exist that need to be addressed as soon as possible:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There are 253 schools that did not meet the required
\nhygienic and sanitary conditions. This situation needs to be solved as soon as
\npossible. There are another 53 schools that lack the needed cleaning, hygiene
\nand disinfection products and another 139 that have problems with their heating
\nsystems. It will be cold soon and we can’t keep children in such conditions. This
\nsituation must be addressed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The authorities said they hoped significant progress
\nwill be made in the vaccination of pupils once school begins, as mobile
\nvaccination units can be arranged to take the vaccine closer to where schools
\nare located. 61% of Romania’s 300,000 education employees and 15% of pupils
\nover the age of 12 have received the vaccine, according to official figures. The
\ncurrent school year will have 34 weeks and will end on 11th June 2022.
\nAll pupils will have two breaks: for the winter holidays, between 23rd
\nDecember and 10th January, and for the spring break, between 15th
\nApril and 1st May. Kindergarten and school children in years 1-4
\nwill have an additional holiday between 25th and 31st
\nOctober. (CM)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New school year gets under way in Romania with special measures in place amid surging Covid-19 cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":86451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[32515],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-82840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-school"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n