Primary school pupils will probably return to in-person classes next week

The caretaker Ministers of Health Stoycho Katsarov and of Education and Science Nikolay Denkov will submit a draft government decree for the provision of BGN 13 million for the purchase of Covid-19 child-friendly tests for the pupils from primary school in order to ensure they go back to in-person learnng

This became clear at a press conference of the caretaker Ministers of Health and of Education and representatives of the National Network for Children on October 25.

The money will be enough to provide tests for at least a month in advance to ensure the safe return of students to classrooms.

Children will be tested twice a week - for example, on Monday and Thursday at the entrance of the school before the first class. If a student tests positive, he or she will be returned home. This way it will not be necessary to quarantine an entire class.

If teachers do not have a green certificate, they will also be able to get a test.

Authorities want the children to return to in-person attendance classes as early as Monday, but it is still uncertain that the tests will be provided by then. It is possible that the learning process will resume later next week.

If the mass testing at the entrance of the schools works and gives good results, the students from the upper grades will be returned to in-person learning in stages.

The caretaker Minister of Education, Nikolay Denkov, called for support from parents and teachers to work out the new approach. The proposal for child-friendly tests twice a week has been under discussion for several months, but there are still parents who oppose it.

The National Network for Children reminded that if parents are against mass testing, they have the right to refuse a test for their child and keep him/her at home for online education.

The NGO said it welcomed the authorities' decision to return the children to school through mass entrance testing.

The organisation has proposed this approach before the start of the school year. The aim is to avoid quarantining whole classes and for children to be able to attend school even if the epidemic situation worsens and other sectors have to close.

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