Education Minister: 66 teachers in Bulgaria have died of Covid-19
Sixty-six teachers in Bulgaria have died of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic in the country, Education Minister Krassimir Vulchev said in a television interview on December 23.
Bulgaria closed schools in March when it declared a State of Emergency because of Covid-19. After some months of distance learning, and after the summer holidays, schools opened with in-person classes on the traditional September 15 date.
In-person teaching was again suspended with the heightened anti-epidemic measures that took effect on November 27.
Vulchev told bTV that preliminary surveys showed that 20 per cent of teachers said that they wanted to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Fewer than 15 per cent have stated categorically that they did not want to be vaccinated, while most said that they wanted more information about the vaccine.
He said that it was possible that grades five to 12 would alternate between in-person and distance learning after the New Year. For now, they will remain on a distance learning basis until January 12. At the point, the situation will be analysed and a decision made how to continue the learning process.
Pupils in Bulgaria in grades one to four resume schooling in-person on January 4.
In other news on December 23 related to the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria:
Svidna Dineva, a member of the management board of the Association of Bulgarian Tour Operators and Travel Agents, told Bulgarian National Television that tour operators in the country need about 150 million leva (about 76.6 million euro) to refund customers because of cancelled trips.
As The Sofia Globe reported earlier, the European Commission said on December 21 that it had approved 51 million leva, or about 26 million euro, in state aid for Bulgaria’s tour operators and travel agents.
The funding would be issued as grants, to be used to refund customers whose travel packages have been cancelled between March 1 and December 31 due to the coronavirus outbreak, and to cover costs of their main activities over the same period.
(Photo: Bulgaria’s Education Ministry)
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