School year, in-person instruction to resume on September 13

The opening of the school year with in-person instruction will take place on September 13 for all students, and parents may agree or oppose their children over 12 being vaccinated by filling in some forms, Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu said Tuesday. "The opening ceremony will have a limited time of an hour and a half, and wearing the protective mask is mandatory (...) We agreed with certainty that the schools will remain open until the 14-day cumulative rate of COVID-19 cases gets at 6 per 1,000 population. I am talking particularly to the school inspectors general who are present in this videoconference together with the prefects from each county in order to pay the highest attention to the observance of the COVID-19 health protection measures. We have a list of designated persons in each school (...) in order to facilitate getting connected with parents before the beginning of the school year, the connection for interactive meetings between parents and the officials of public health departments," Cimpeanu told a video conference with prefects on Tuesday. He explained that the meetings are meant to provide answers to parents regarding the vaccination of children, so that parents can express themselves "knowingly in the forms that will be sent to them for the vaccination agreement of students over 12 years old." "They will be asked whether or not they are recovered COVID-19 patients, whether or not they got vaccinated, and the next section will be yes or no - parental consent for vaccination. It is an approach we take in all schools in Romania and we hope to have a result that shows responsibility on the part of parents who want safety in schools. The approach will be initiated on the first day of school. Until then, we will have preparatory actions at the level of each school," said the minister. AGERPRES (RO - author: Livia Popescu, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)