The new school year starts today, everything is ready

The new school year starts today, everything is ready

The schoolyear will begin with the singing of the national anthem of Serbia.

Classes will be held "regularly", in schools neither students nor teachers will be required to wear masks, and the School Team will continue to review the epidemiological situation on a weekly basis, regularly updating recommendations, which will be changed as necessary.

Minister of Education Branko Ružić said that everything is ready for the beginning of the school year, and that direct teaching is the best form of interaction between teachers and students.

"As for tomorrow, everything will start in a regular way. I have no fears that the virus will spread, but the Team for Schools will meet and if necessary, we will apply some more restrictive measures," said Ružić at the ceremony for the reception of new high school students school to the "Zmaj" home.

Commenting on the announced protest of the Union of Education Workers of Serbia, Ružić said that he does not expect that the protest will in any way threaten the first day of the school year and reminded that a decision was made to increase the salary in January in the education sector, and that this increase will be more significant compared to last year.

"We have a high level of understanding for all the demands that are founded and legitimate by the representative trade unions in education, we had conversations last week that are a reflection of mutual understanding and dialogue that we have been conducting for a long period of time," he said.

He added that it is in everyone's interest that the starting salary in education be at the level of the national average, and that he will strive towards that in the future.

"It is important to correct this injustice and we will correct it over time, and it is certainly important to take care of the state budget," said Ružić.

Direct teaching makes students, parents and teachers happy. The director of the "Kneginja Milica" Elementary School, Darko Eger, reminds that the coronavirus has influenced the fact that the school year has not been going on regularly for the last two years.

"Tomorrow the children regularly go to school, it is a special moment in the development of each child, as well as in the development of parents, which follows a new way of life, which parents should get used to and be the main collaborators of the children," Eger told Tanjug.

By the way, according to the recommendations of the School Team, if symptoms that could indicate COVID-19 appear during the student's stay at school, the school informs the parents, and until their arrival, the student is placed in a special room, under the supervision of one of the employees, and at the same time both student and employee should wear a mask.

If an employee develops symptoms during his/her stay at school, the employee must immediately put on a mask and leave the school to see a doctor.

The recommendation of the Team for schools is to consistently apply prescribed general measures and personal protection measures, and it is especially recommended for sensitive people with an increased risk of more severe forms of disease to use a protective mask in situations of mass gatherings in closed spaces without the possibility of maintaining distance.

Excursions and other trips of students and preschoolers are allowed, and before the realization of the excursion, schools are obliged to collect statements from parents that the children do not have, nor have they had in the previous seven days, symptoms of infection, that they have not been treated in the same period for COVID-19 and that there was no coronavirus infection among members of the immediate family, as well as to ensure medical supervision by a doctor during a trip lasting longer than one day, in order to timely detect possible symptoms and signs of infection.