What to do with schools is the major issue; Ruzic: We are ready; Kon on winter break

What to do with schools is the major issue; Ruzic: We are ready; Kon on winter break

The new measures, adopted last week, came into force on Tuesday.

After the new restriction on the work of catering facilities and shopping centers, it is expected that the further work of schools will be primarily discussed at today's session.

Namely, since the situation with the coronavirus has drastically worsened, there is talk of further work of schools and the possibility of a complete transition to distance learning via the Internet. Let us remind you, some municipalities in Serbia have already made a decision that students of those municipalities follow classes online.

The Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development, Branko Ružić, stated that he expects that all the information at his disposal will be considered at the session of the Crisis Staff, and based on them, it will be decided whether there is a need for all schools to switch to online classes.

"There is no possibility for the educational process to stop," said Ruzic, adding that for now, in case of greater infection in certain areas, local crisis headquarters can make a decision and ask for consent to move to online teaching through the competent school administration.

As previously stated by the media, several options are being considered, of which the most certain is currently that the older classes are moving to online classes, and the younger ones are still going to classes in the classrooms. According to the current idea, high schools and colleges would hold online classes.

The youngest from the first to the fourth grade would still go to classes, and kindergartens would still be open. If the measure on selective online transition is adopted, it could be limited to 10 or 15 days, "Blic" reports.

Also, there was talk about going to the winter break earlier, which would start and end at the same time for all students in Serbia. The holiday could start as early as December 20 and last until January 20 for students throughout Serbia. This decision has not been officially adopted yet, and it came as a proposal by an epidemiologist.

Epidemiologist Dr Predrag Kon stated this morning for TV Prva that the proposal to switch to online classes would be scheduled for a week, and that the proposal to postpone the winter break will still be discussed. It is important, as he said, that flu and COVID do not interfere.

He also explained that important topics for discussion will be vaccines against coronavirus and the implementation of the prescribed measures so far, as well as the assessment of the overall situation.