Bulgaria: Students up to 4th Grade will be Without Masks in Class

Students up to and including 4th grade will not wear masks during class. Masks will also not be mandatory for pre-school children in schools. However, classrooms will need to be ventilated at least twice an hour for at least one minute.

The masks for all other students, as well as for those from the primary classes in the breaks and in the common areas of the school, remain obligatory throughout the day and everywhere in the building.

The changes are recorded in the updated Guidelines for training and actions in the conditions of an emergency epidemic situation in schools published by the Ministry of Education (you can see them here). Some of the measures have been eased, and some new ones have been introduced, after the education department has consulted with medical specialists from the Ministry of Health, child psychologists and psychiatrists, the press center of the ministry notes.

Masks will not be mandatory for teachers during class with a physical distance of at least 1.5 m between them and the students' seats. This rule will also apply in the classes of physical education and indoor sports if in the particular class the room is used by only one class at a distance of at least 1.5 m between students and with regular ventilation.

At the request of parents and / or students, protective face masks can be worn throughout the school stay.

In case of illness or quarantine

In isolated cases of sick or quarantined students, teachers or other employees, the school principal issues an order to switch to e-learning for an individual student or class. In the absence of 10% of students due to symptoms of COVID-19 and / or the number of ill teachers, which makes the present learning process impossible,...