Coronavirus: As measures relax minister calls on students to follow protocols (Updated)

With around 70,000 elementary students and final year students at high schools returning to school on Monday, Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou again encouraged students to take a rapid Covid test, urging them to keep to health protocols so the situation remains manageable.

He said the closure of schools was necessary but difficult for all. The mother of an elementary school pupil told CyBc that her daughter could not stop talking about going back to school, and that she was very excited to be returning for the first time since before Christmas.

“That is why we need a lot of attention and collective effort so that the situation does not spiral of control again, so that we do not need measures again. Thanks to the proper management and the measures we implemented, we have the opportunity to return to school now,” Prodromou commented.

“Let us safeguard it. Let us again observe the health protocols and all precautionary measures with care.”

Most elementary school teachers responded to the minister’s call to take a test. CyBc reported that only two were found without tests and were not allowed to enter their classrooms. Similarly, out of 1072 secondary school teachers, only one was found without a test and was denied entry by the school management.

Prodromou also said that students should take a coronavirus test, though it is not mandatory.

“It is now offered by many groups, in various places throughout Cyprus and so there is no long wait. It is of course free. and they will find a place not far from their home.”

But Akel on Monday accused the government of failing to prepare properly for coronavirus’ impact on education, saying pupils, their parents and teachers were paying for the government’s improvisations.

One year on from the start of the pandemic, no-one knows what will happen with the five classes of secondary school who have not yet returned and continue to rely on problematic distance learning, the party said.

Only half the single desks that should have been sent to schools to ensure distancing have actually been delivered, technological upgrades remain an empty slogan and no programme has been announced to carry out rapid antigen tests among pupils, it added.

Valuable teaching time has been lost because of weaknesses in distance learning while lack of ventilation in the classrooms obliges teachers to keep windows and doors open.

“Our children are returning to school under very problematic conditions. The minister’s declarations have remained words, planning is non-existent, and the conditions are not improving. It is time the minister and the government take responsibility for their inadequacy which our children are paying for,” the party concluded.