Pupils in 13 districts in Bulgaria resume in-person learning from today

Pupils from 1st to 4th grades in 13 of Bulgaria’s 28 districts will resume in-person attendance classes from today, November 10. Before going back to the classrooms, they wlll be tested with child-friendly non-intrusive tests for Covid-19.

This will only happen after schools have received tests, made preparations and where the parents of more than half of each class have declared that they agree to have their children tested.

The parents of 57% of students from 1st to 4th grade in municipalities with a total incidence of more than 250 infections per 100,000 people across the country have given their consent for their children to return to school. In the other municipalities, the 1st to 4th grade pupils still go to school in person.

Bulgaria has introduced a system, according to which pupils in the 1st to 4th grades may return to in-person learning, provided they are tested twice a week, with child-friendly tests. Parental consent for the testing is required, If the parents do not agree to such testing, the pupil remains on distance learning.

The desire to resume in-person learning with regular testing of students is strongest in Sofia. 21 schools in the capital will postpone the start of in-person classes until they prepare. In-person learning can begin for nearly 78% of the classes.

In 15 districts of the country, the delivery of the tests has been delayed due to an unfulfilled order from the supplier and they will resume in-person learning next week at the earliest. Tests delivery has been delayed in big cities such as Plovdiv and Bourgas. More than 70% of the classes are ready to go to school in-person again under the new conditions.