Covid-19 in Bulgaria: About 500 pupils, 40 teachers in quarantine
Five days after schools opened across Bulgaria, about 500 pupils and 40 teachers are in quarantine, Deputy Education Minister Tanya Mihailova told Bulgarian National Radio on September 20.
However, some of the reported cases involved people who had not been to school, that is, the infection occurred before the start of the school year, she said.
Schools opened in Bulgaria for the 2020/21 school year on the traditional date of September 15. About 59 000 children began first grade, with a total of 708 258 pupils in the country and 67 640 teachers, according to Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute.
A task force between education and health ministry experts spent months drafting guidelines regarding Covid-19 and how schools should respond, that the Education Ministry published at the end of August.
The guidelines (The Sofia Globe’s earlier detailed coverage of the guidelines is here) contain both mandatory and optional measures, aiming to give individual schools a degree of flexibility in finding their own optimal set of practices.
Mihailova told Bulgarian National Radio that the situation at each school would be considered individually.
In-person education would remain in place at this stage, she said.
Decisions on quarantine were made by regional health inspectorates according to the conditions.
Schools had the funds to cover the cost of disinfectants and it was inappropriate to ask for extra money, Mihailova said.
For the rest of The Sofia Globe’s continuing coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria, please click here.
The Sofia Globe’s coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria is supported by the Embassy of Switzerland.
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