School begins in Romania

New school year gets under way in Romania with special measures in place amid surging Covid-19 cases.

Daniela Budu, 13.09.2021, 14:00

Classes began again in Romania after the summer holidays,
being held in-person in most schools, but with special measures in place. It’s
the second year that children and teens begin school during the pandemic, with
the number of new daily cases almost double this time last year. The majority
of Romania’s three million children in school and pre-school education will be physically
present in class, but there are almost a few thousand who will begin the new
school year remotely because of the high number of coronavirus cases where they
live or because various repair works carried out in their schools have not been
finalised yet. Education minister Sorin Cîmpeanu explains:

2,400 children are studying in the 12 localities where
the infection rate hit six per 1,000 on Friday. We should add to this the
schools with infrastructure problems. So, another 2,000 around the country,
2,723 in Bucharest, in total 7,000 pupils out of three million will have to
study remotely.

According to the authorities, classes will be held in
person, with face masks mandatory, until the infection rate hits 6 per 1,000
inhabitants in the respective locality, when all pupils will switch to online
learning, with the exception of those in the special education system and crèches
and kindergartens. Prime minister Florin Cîţu asked public health directorates
to make sure enough face masks are available in schools and warned that situations
still exist that need to be addressed as soon as possible:

There are 253 schools that did not meet the required
hygienic and sanitary conditions. This situation needs to be solved as soon as
possible. There are another 53 schools that lack the needed cleaning, hygiene
and disinfection products and another 139 that have problems with their heating
systems. It will be cold soon and we can’t keep children in such conditions. This
situation must be addressed.

The authorities said they hoped significant progress
will be made in the vaccination of pupils once school begins, as mobile
vaccination units can be arranged to take the vaccine closer to where schools
are located. 61% of Romania’s 300,000 education employees and 15% of pupils
over the age of 12 have received the vaccine, according to official figures. The
current school year will have 34 weeks and will end on 11th June 2022.
All pupils will have two breaks: for the winter holidays, between 23rd
December and 10th January, and for the spring break, between 15th
April and 1st May. Kindergarten and school children in years 1-4
will have an additional holiday between 25th and 31st
October. (CM)