The school in Trenčianske Stankovce. (source: TASR)
Face masks will no longer be compulsory for most pupils in classrooms.
As of Monday, October 4, pupils of primary schools, special primary schools and the first four grades of grammar schools will no longer be required to wear protective masks in class. The Public Health Authority issued the new regulation per the recommendation of epidemiologists advising the government.
Masks continue to be compulsory outside classrooms, such as in corridors, changing rooms and toilets - that is places where pupils from different classrooms mix. Masks are also compulsory for mass events and for students in higher grades at secondary schools.
Face masks at schools have been intensively discussed by experts and the Education Ministry. The experts, in the end, agreed to go down the path of what they called the balanced controlled risk.
"We still recommend children to wear masks and we consider it an effective part of prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and other infectious respiratory diseases, such as the flu," the authority stated.
