Students from 1st to 4th grade can return to school next week. This was announced by the Minister of Education Nikolay Denkov. Student testing and green certificates for teachers are among the planned measures.

There will be an attempt to return the children to class on Monday, Wednesday at the latest. To ensure a safe return, students will be tested, but with parental consent.

The tests can also be performed by the teachers in order to prevent the entry of outsiders, explained the Minister of Education Nikolay Denkov.

"We will try to cope without volunteers, without parents. If necessary, we will seek help somewhere, especially if the parent is a medical person, has the relevant knowledge, this would be great, we will not refuse. But it will be more of an emergency."

Children whose parents do not agree to testing will study online. The organization of teaching in this case will be decided by each school.

"They will study at home. Some directors say: It's easier for us to stream, others say: No, we can't do it because the internet connection is weak. It is weak, not that it is not there, it is there, but not all classes are prepared to be online," Denkov said.

The plan is to gradually return all students to school, the health minister added.

"If we see that a good organization has been created, if we see that this mechanism works well, we continue with the students from the upper grades."

A draft decree has already been prepared, which will be submitted to the Council of Ministers to provide BGN 13 million. They are planned for the purchase of "lollipop" type tests. The public procurement for them will be announced today, explained the Minister of Health.

"If the test is positive, the child should not enter the learning environment until the 14-day period has expired. In this way we will prevent other children or people from the school staff from becoming infected, and we will also avoid the quarantine of entire classes,” Katsarov explained.

This, according to the two ministers, will provide face-to-face training with minimal risk.

/BNR