Back to school!

Nearly 70% of the undergraduate schools in Romania are reopening

Daniela Budu, 08.11.2021, 14:00

Nearly two-thirds out of the over 3 million students
and pre-schoolers in Romania are returning to schools on Monday, after a 2-week
break triggered by the COVID 19 pandemic.

Face-to-face teaching is resumed in schools where at
least 60% of the employees are vaccinated against the virus, while the other
schools carry on classes online. The Students’ Council says schools are not
ready to resume on-site classes, and call on the authorities to also take into
account the local infection rates, the healthcare infrastructure, the testing
capacity and the means to ensure physical distancing.

The coordinator of Romania’s vaccination campaign, Valeriu
Gheorghiţă, admits that the measure would prompt a rise in infection risks, but
argues that children need face-to-face classes and adults should make an effort
to ensure that children are safe in schools.

Valeriu Gheorghiţă: I believe it is a duty for us, for the adults, to
make sure our kids are safe in schools. How can we do that? By complying with
health and hygiene rules, by explaining these rules to the kids, by getting the
vaccine. I believe this is the way for us to gradually become able to control
and contain the effects and consequences of this pandemic. Yes, resuming
on-site classes definitely entails additional risks in terms of the number of
infection cases, but what we must keep in mind is a balance between the
epidemiological status and the benefits and losses for our children during this
period.

In turn, the interim education minister Sorin Cîmpeanu
says that although controversial, the new conditions for reopening schools have
been effective and encouraged teaching staff to get the vaccine:

Sorin Cîmpeanu: The reports for Friday, 29th October, indicated
that 54% of public and private schools had a vaccination rate of over 60% and
may resume face-to-face classes. By Friday, 5th November when we
updated all data for all the schools in Romania, there was an increase from 54%
to 68%, so the measure worked. Several inspection teams from the Education
Ministry will conduct on-site checks to see the extent to which protection
rules are implemented, and also to check the accuracy of the reported
vaccination rates. This is a compromise solution, it has its flaws, but at the
end of the day this criterion ensures a safer environment for students and
teachers, it protects teachers the most, because according to physicians vaccinated
people don’t get infected and don’t pass on the virus as easily as the non-vaccinated.

To make up for the lost time during this school break,
the Education Ministry amended the structure of this school year and shortened
the winter holiday for middle schools and high schools. (tr. A.M. Popescu)