With new Covid-19 infections and the related death toll
\ndropping to the lowest levels in the last two months, the education authorities
\ndecided to change the criteria for how classes are held. Almost 90% of Romanian
\npupils and kindergarten children are therefore back in class for in-person classes
\nfrom Monday. Schools and kindergartens in localities where the Covid incidence
\nrate is below 3 cases per 1,000 inhabitants have reopened, regardless of the
\nvaccination rate among their staff. After the new rules came into force, over
\n2,600,000 children are back in school, with another 400,000 still doing classes
\nonline. Interim education minister Sorin C\u00eempeanu told the public television:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
1,792 schools are still teaching online because they
\nare located in places where the infection rate is above 3 per thousand and the
\nvaccination rate is below 60% among their staff. Where the infection rate is
\nzero or very low, in some villages, for example, where Internet access is also
\ndifficult, it would be illogical to oblige children to study online. So, below
\n3 per thousand, there’s no link between the vaccination rate among the teaching
\nstaff and whether classes are held online or not. Above 3 per thousand, there’s
\na link: at least 60% of the teaching staff must be vaccinated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Education minister Sorin C\u00eempeanu also urged pupils
\nand teachers to get the vaccine. At the moment, over 400,000 children and teenagers
\nover the age of 12 have had the vaccine, accounting for 33% of the total number
\neligible for vaccination. Among the teaching staff, some 70% have got the
\nvaccine. Schools are also waiting this week for the delivery of non-invasive
\nrapid antigen tests from saliva, a first for Romanian education. The testing of
\nchildren, which, in France, for example, has been common practice since the
\nstart of the school year, should also have happened in Romania since 8th
\nNovember, when schools reopened, and as the authorities had promised.
\nUnder-secretary in the education ministry Sorin Ion explains where these tests
\ncan be taken:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The school management will decide if the testing is
\nmade at school or at home under the supervision of parents or legal guardians. So,
\nit’s up to each school, depending on the type of school and the availability of
\nstaff.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The authorities wanted initially for all testing to be
\ndone in school but education trade unions said this would hamper the teaching
\nactivity and turn schools into hotbeds of infection, so they called for the testing
\nto be done at home, with the result that the authorities reconsidered their
\ndecision. (CM)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most school and kindergarten children in Romania are back in school as the authorities changed the criteria for in-person learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":85979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[28904,35416],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-90410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-education","tag-pandemic"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n