Bulgaria schools to stay shut until September

SOFIA AFP MAY5, 2020Bulgaria announced Tuesday that schools would remain shut until September in order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, with all teaching online until then.

“We reached a solid consensus with parents, teachers and health officials that the school year should finish online,” Education Minister Krasimir Valchev told journalists Tuesday.

The only exceptions to the school closures will be for those sitting important exams in the 7th and 12th grades, Valchev added.

Those exams, in mathematics and literature, will be held on various dates between June 1 and 17. No more than 10 students will sit in any exam room, strictly observing distancing and disinfection rules, said the minister.

While the new school year is scheduled to begin in mid-september as usual, kindergartens will remain shut indefinitely.

On March 6, even before the novel coronavirus arrived in Bulgaria, a flu epidemic prompted the authorities to close down classes for the country’s 708,000 primary and secondary school students.

They stayed closed as the country acted to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Teachers have switched to teaching online, while social workers have delivered printed school materials to children, especially those in Roma neighbourhoods, who have no access to computers. Lessons have also been broadcast on public television.

Bulgaria, a country of just under seven million people has so far registered just 1,689 coronavirus cases and 78 deaths.