(source: Sme)
When Slovakia's schools re-open after the summer holidays next week, pupils will still carry a mask in their school bags, they will be required to disinfect their hands when arriving to school and most of them in all likelihood will experience at least one quarantine at some point this autumn.
2021/2022 will be the third pandemic school year. Most pupils from the fifth grade and higher spent most of the previous school year studying from home, an anomaly that the ministry is determined not to repeat in the coming months. But the set of rules that the government introduced in mid-August is clear in the expectation that the coronavirus will continue impacting the everyday life of pupils and students, teachers, other school employees and parents.
“It is hard to tell what kind of year awaits us,” said Martina Miškovová, teacher from the Katkin Park Private Secondary Grammar School in Košice. She was recently awarded the Zlatý Amos prize as winner in the poll of most popular teacher.
“We all hope that we will be more at school than at home, but we will most likely not prevent the closing of classrooms,” Miškovová shared her expectations ahead of the new school year with The Slovak Spectator.
The new Covid automat warning system and the special rules for schools have the goal of keeping schools open as long as possible even in districts that descend into the worst epidemic situation. Schools are not supposed to be closed with across-the-board measures. On the contrary, each person that tests positive will be required to isolate at home and only their closest contacts will be required to go into quarantine. This will most often mean that if one pupil contracts Covid, the whole class will need to go into quarantine. Schools are thus getting ready to frequently switch between in-person and online education.
