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Due to fears of overcrowding outside schools and based on new epidemiological data, primary schools and kindergartens are expected to open on Monday.
The experts who participate in the scientific committee of the coronavirus will review the situation starting today, based on the new epidemiological data, in order to take any additional protective measures before the opening of primary schools and kindergartens on Monday.
The Ministry of Education had planned to open all educational levels at the same time, on Monday, January 11, however, the experts decided to request the opening of only kindergartens and primary schools, considering that young children are less sick and transmit less the virus, while also having a greater need for socialization by older children.
The next step that epidemiologists will put on the table is the operation of the 3rd Lyceum, with the criterion that specific students are candidates for the Panhellenic Exams and are properly prepared, while they estimate that, if the others do not open classes at the same time secondary school and if the measures are observed, the risk of transmission will be small.
There is a reduction in the content of the Panhellenic Games.
The question that arises is when the gyms and the first two grades of high school will open. This is expected to be done in a third phase and subject to the epidemiological situation that will prevail in the country at that time. In addition, according to the committee members, the situation will be reviewed for tomorrow, based on epidemiological data, in order to take any additional protective measures before the opening of primary schools on Monday.
In the context of preparation, even the reduction of the material for the panhellenic exam courses of the III Lyceum is foreseen, which is expected to be announced tomorrow.
The school opening plan
Differentiated arrival and departure times, by group of departments where possible and necessary, the use of more than one entrance to the school unit, where there are different breaks, are included in the plan of the Ministry of Education for the start of classes of Elementary school.
As for teachers, a special platform has already been launched, through which teachers will be able to request a free coronavirus test and will be informed of their appointment by SMS to the closest of the 386 control points throughout Greece.
The president of EODY Panagiotis Arkoumaneas reported on the opening of a special platform for the sampling of covid tests to teachers, which will not worry students either.
As Mr. Arkoumaneas told ERT, “there will be a special platform in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, where teachers can register and take test samples, across the country, so that we have a better epidemiological picture for schools.” The platform will remain open for a long time, but the tests will be sample and will not affect all teachers ”.
In turn, all the precautionary measures already taken and the EODY instructions remain in force, such as the mandatory use of a mask indoors and outdoors, the use of antiseptics, thorough cleaning, and special measures for the proper functioning of dining rooms. , computer labs, musical instruments. .ά., and of course the sampling controls by EODY.
What the experts say
Experts are concerned about the growing trend of cases and the consequences of holiday mobility, which endangers the lifting of the blockade, but also raises doubts about the upcoming opening of schools on January 11.
In any case, there was already a disagreement between specialists in infectious diseases, who needed two meetings to give a “green light” to return to school, without approving the horizontal opening of all school levels, but only primary, kindergarten and day care centers.
The government has said it wants to avoid the scenario of having to close schools again after they reopen, but anything is possible as long as the country’s epidemiological situation continues to deteriorate.
The crowds outside the schools are the main fear of the experts since, as the president of the doctors of the hospitals of Athens and Piraeus, Matina Pagoni estimated, children do not transmit as much and with such ease. “What scares us is the overcrowding outside the schools,” he said.
Speaking about the return of students to desks, pulmonology professor Mina Gaga said that “schools should be open”, saying that children in schools with masks are not in danger, while she estimated that schools should be open, as this is safer, to be “loose” in playgrounds and parks.
Tomorrow distance education for schools and high schools
After the positive suggestion of the Committee of Experts in the internet meeting, with the Minister of Education Niki Kerameos, the Ministry of Education announced that as for the Gymnasiums and Lyceums, tomorrow Friday they will begin with distance education and then their reopening will be examined forever. .
