Covid-19: Bulgaria Education Ministry sets guidelines on school closures
Bulgaria’s Education Ministry published on October 26 the guidelines for schools suspending classes and switching to distance learning.
The decision is left to each individual headmaster, who can make the formal request to the ministry, after securing the approval of the teachers council and following consultations with parents.
The school headmasters can make the request when there is a “rising or high number of pupils and teachers carrying Covid-19 or displaying flu-like symptoms similar to those of Covid-19, and/or if there is a high number of quarantined teachers and pupils in the school,” the ministry’s order said.
Only schools in districts in the red zone (Covid-19 infections above 120 cases per 100 000 people) and orange zone (Covid-19 infections in the range between 60 and 120 cases per 100 000 people) can ask to switch to distance learning.
Headmasters can make a request in cases even if the district health inspectorate has made no such recommendation, or it could be preceded by a recommendation by the district Covid-19 crisis staff.
The proposals to suspend classes also must include an “optimal duration” of the period of distance learning, which would take into account the epidemic situation in the district and the fact that “classroom learning is a priority to reach the educational goals and socialisation of pupils,” the ministry said.
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