All school students in Bulgaria return to in-person classes as of December 6

With the latest deliveries from last night and today, Covid-19 tests have already been provided for all students from 1st to 12th grade for the examination on December 6 this year. The latest quantities are being distributed to schools today, the Ministry of Education and Science said in a press release on December 3.

Here are the conditions under which students will return to in-person classes:

Students who are minors will be tested with the consent of their parents, and students who are adults will make the decision themselves. At the end of today it will become clear how many declarations of consent have been collected.

Exempted from testing are the holders of a green certificate - a document for vaccination, recovery from illness, the presence of antibodies or a negative result of a laboratory test.

Another condition for returning to in-person classes is that there should be at least 50% of students in a class who are being tested or have a green certificate. A prerequisite for the resumption of in-person attendance is also the willingness of individual schools to organize a normal learning process in compliance with the requirements for testing or a green certificate.

Also from December 6 this year attendance classes are allowed at the Centres for Support of Personal Development and the National Palace of Children, if the anti-epidemic measures ordered by the Ministry of Health are observed. Here are the requirements:

• No more than five people are allowed in the room
• Observance of a physical distance of 1.5 metres
• Wearing face masks and hands disinfection
• Regular airing of the rooms, every hour, and disinfection.

According to the orders of the Minister of Health from November 26 and December 2 this year, the Ministry of Education is updating the Guidelines for Training and Action in a state of epidemic emergency in schools and special education support centres.