Traffic light scenarios for Romanian school year

The new school year will start on September 14, and most of the students will attend in-person classes, said Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at his Wednesday afternoon press conference.

According to Iohannis three scenarios have been devised for the start of the school year, taking into consideration the COVID-19 situation.

• The first, “green” scenario will come into force if less than one infected person on average is found in the respective settlement during the last 14 days. In this case, every student can return to school and kindergarten.
• The second, “yellow” scenario will come into force if between one and three infected people on average are found in the given area in the last two weeks. In this case, a kind of hybrid education will be implemented, meaning that kids in kindergarten and students between 1^st– 4^th grade and in 8^th and 12^th grade will attend classes in person. The rest of the students (5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 9^th, 10^th, 11^th grades) will be divided into two halves by school management: one half will conduct their studies online from home, while the other half will attend classes in person.
• The third, “red” scenario will be used if more than three new COVID-19 cases on average are found in the respective settlement over the last 14 days. In this case, all schools and kindergartens will be closed, and education will completely move to the online world.

According to Iohannis, the decision will be detailed in the coming weeks, and the decision about which of the three scenarios should come into force will be made locally by the county disaster management committees.

He also said that if there is a high number of COVID-19 cases in Romania around September 14, the start of the school year will be postponed.

Parents can get help if education goes online

The president also told the press that the government will draft a legislative solution for parents who will have to stay at home with their children if schooling will take place online.

“We were discussing a scenario similar to the one we had during the state of emergency, meaning parents would receive help to be able to stay with their children at home. However, because this time we are not talking about the total closure of schools, no measure can be made which would be imposed on everyone. Therefore, today [Wednesday], I asked the cabinet members to quickly work out a scenario within an interministerial committee, which would protect the interests of the children and would also come to the aid of the parents at the same time. I am convinced that we will have a correct legislative solution in the shortest possible time,” said the head of state in his press conference at the Cotroceni Palace. (Agerpres)

Title image: Klaus Iohannis during his press conference about the start of the school year in Romania on August 5, 2020. (Photo: presidency.ro)

Author: Attila Szoó

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