Back to school 2021-2022

The new school year 2021-2022 promises to be complicated as health measures have been strengthened in various states which are accelerating the vaccination of 12-17 year olds.


Hong Kong students may be able to return to full-day in-person lessons in the upcoming school term under new pandemic rules introduced by the government.
Previously, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools were holding half-day lessons on campus before the end of the school year.
In addition, full-day classes could resume in schools as early as September 1 if at least 70 per cent of students and teachers had been vaccinated, education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said on Monday.

“After 56 days now without any local [Covid-19] cases, we have basically achieved the goal of zero infections in the country,”

Shruti Kaur, 16, a Form Five student at YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College who has been vaccinated, said that while she would like life to return to normal, she was overall neutral on the issue of resuming full-day classes.
"I would feel safer if at least 70 per cent of staff and pupils are vaccinated, because it would feel as though we have a shield against Covid-19," she said. "However, recent cases have shown that even if a person is fully inoculated, there is still a chance they could catch the virus - including the Delta variant. So we will still have to take precautions like using hand sanitiser and wearing face masks." 


Malta:
No change expected in schools’ COVID-19 measures.

Schools are likely to again follow strict COVID-19 measures when students return to their desks in September, with bubbles and mask-wearing to be mandatory for the second year running.

The major change in the sector is expected to impact those students in post-secondary education, who were forced to follow lessons online throughout the last scholastic year. Because the majority of these students are now vaccinated, it is expected that they will be allowed back to lecture halls once the new year starts.

Last year, the government was forced to delay the start of the new scholastic year by a week, as part of efforts to ensure the COVID-19 measures were implemented and followed.

Schools had been abruptly shut for the entire year in March 2020 when the first cases of the new coronavirus were detected by the health authorities on the island.

Schooling once again moved online a year later, this March, for a few weeks when record numbers of new cases of infection were registered.


United Kingdom: Going back to school normally
Attendance will be mandatory for British schoolchildren and strongly encouraged for college students. Children will again be able to mix between different classes, which were not possible until now. Schools’ staff will have to test twice a week, but this will not be mandatory for children.

A child who falls ill will have to self-isolate, but no more need for the whole class to follow. As of 16 August, people under 18 years of age will no longer have to self-isolate if they have been in contact. This will help to avoid the problem of July, where over a week, more than one million students have been absent due to Covid. Experts fear for the mental health and social isolation of students.

“The goal of this new school year is to no longer disturb young people” said Gavin Williamson, UK Minister of Education

With respect to vaccination, only youth between the ages of 12 and 17 who are considered at risk or who are in contact with a person with a weakened immune system are encouraged to receive both injections.


Italy: "Send all children to school, without exception"
“The will of the Italian government is to send all children to school, without exception. But for those in charge of schools, it is too early to define precisely whether this political will will actually be applicable", according to Jean Baptiste Venditti, RTS correspondent in Rome. It will depend on the vaccination campaign, as the president of the Association of School Principals said yesterday.

At present, less than 15% of young people aged 12 to 19 are fully vaccinated, with significant differences between regions. The teachers are not affected by an obligation to vaccinate but a strong incentive emerges from the project presented on Thursday 29 july by the Minister of Education.

"In total, 85% of Italian teachers are already vaccinated, which is well above the national average of 58% of the population over the age of 12," says Jean Baptiste Venditti. The government’s stated objective is to achieve collective immunity by the end of September. If this objective is achieved within two weeks from the beginning of the school year, the face-to-face school will be essential.

Discussions are underway with school principals to define terms for Covid positive students. Until now, the whole class was quarantined. The plan of Minister Patrizio Bianchi, which will be discussed with the trade unions, plans to exempt from quarantine students over 12 fully vaccinated. Under-12s will follow last year’s rule.


Singapore:
Schools will stay open in spite of the current spike in Covid-19 cases, said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on Tuesday (July 20).

“We have been able to keep schools open, ensure that learning continues safely, not just for our students, but also for all our educators. We do have in place a whole series of very stringent protocols and safe management measures in order to minimise interactions in the classrooms and ensure that there is no transmission within the school system. "

"Many studies now have shown that these extended school closures do have an impact on learning, it has an impact on students."
He said the impact of school closures can be long-lasting, and may even lead to permanent scarring when it comes to learning and the development of human capital. Hence, the Government has tried very hard to avoid this scenario.


Andorra:
The education ministry does not consider a more restrictive new school year start than the previous one.

A scheduled meeting with Health ministry defined all possible scenarios for September. The meeting served to define a whole series of protocols, although "this pandemic has forced us to act quickly" and therefore "the decision you can take one week may be different from the next one because conditions have changed". It is important to decide if a first testing is carried out in order to have a picture of the epidemiological state of the pupils and the teachers after the return of the holidays. In this regard, the minister said that "this is one of the options to be considered". If Health ministry finally chooses to vaccinate children under 16, “more flexible situations” could be put in place in classrooms, even if “the beginning of the school will not depend at all on being vaccinated or no ".


Mauritius:
The beginning of the school year, initially announced for June 14, has been postponed and readjusted with new modalities for July 5. What upset and complicated the preparations for parents, teachers and students was the fact that the information was communicated at the last minute.

The Ministry of Education will apply the 90% attendance criterion, despite the health crisis and alternating school days. This is what school officials tell us. The 90% will thus be counted on the number of days students must attend school each week. Those who must go into quarantine or remain in isolation on instructions from the Ministry of Health will also be exempted during the days of absence.

However, there will be no exemption for those who have remained at home for fear of Covid-19. If they have more than 15 absences in one year and 30 absences over two years, their parents will have to pay their SC or HSC exam fees.


Russia:
As the school year approaches, parents' excitement grows - is it possible for their children to have a distant learning again? 
“Our position: on September 1, all children should come to school. Educational institutions are ready for all the requirements that are now presented in connection with the health situation. Children will study in person” said Anna Kuznetsova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, following a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Education Sergei Kravtsov.

The educational process is organized taking into account the requirements of sanitary and epidemiological standards. The transfer of schoolchildren to distance learning and online formats is not provided, said Anna Kuznetsova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, following a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Education Sergei Kravtsov.

Restrictions on the basis of vaccination concerning the students and teachers are unacceptable. 
“It is important for us that the children come to classes, meet with their teachers. We understand that this event is one of the most important for millions of Russians: schoolchildren, students and their families, for teachers. So, the distance format for the beginning of the academic year is not expected, Sergey Kravtsov said.

Sergey Kravtsov also added that measures have been worked out with each region to improve health protection in educational organizations, and this topic is under constant control.
We will remind, the deputies from the "United Russia" earlier defended the right of students to decide independently on the issue of vaccination.


France: 
On July 28, on France Info, the Minister of National Education gave the outline of the health protocol planned for this new school year. The government has even put online a document outlining the framework and rules for students and teachers. Several scenarios are envisaged, with a protocol evolving according to the health situation. A four-level scale has been established, ranging from level 1 in green to level 4 in red. We know that the government has adopted the level 2 health protocol for the new school year which starts the 2 September.


This level of alert is acceptable for a new school year, since it is the second level out of four set up by the health protocol in schools. The green protocol would have been simplified. For this new year, it will be the yellow level, a little more restrictive, which involves face-to-face but with a mask. What does this mean for the students?

1. All students will be able to attend face-to-face classes;
2. But indoor masking will be mandatory for all students starting at elementary school;
3. Physical and sporting activities will remain allowed outdoors and indoors while maintaining a distance of 2 m. Contact sports are prohibited;
4. Groupings or cross-referencing of students from different groups should be avoided.

Vaccination would be one of the big challenges of this new school year.
A vaccination campaign will be launched in middle and high schools from the beginning of the school year for students over 12 who wish to do so. For school trips, students should not have a sanitary pass in places where they are not mixed with the public such as swimming pools or libraries.
This level of alert remains subject to change during the school year depending on the evolution of the pandemic in the country.


Monaco:
On August 23, the princely government recommended preventive testing upon return from holidays. The day before the start of the new school year, in order to avoid a new pandemic rebound and to ensure that the new school year will be organized in the best conditions, the government strongly recommends that those concerned get tested upon their return. Indeed, preventive testing on the return from vacation can quickly break a chain of contamination".

Also, to encourage this testing, the government has revised its decision on the possibility of conducting free tests without a prescription, which has been regulated since August 15.

Thus, until September 11, those who want to can benefit from a free PCR test without medical prescription, at the National Screening Centre located at the Auditorium Rainier III.

The start of the school year will take place on Monday, September 6, 2021 with following preventives measures.
1. Mask use is mandatory in classrooms for all students as it has been since the resumption of classes during a pandemic.
2. Vaccination is not mandatory for teachers. Today, Monegasques and residents aged 12 and over can receive the vaccine. Moreover, as of Monday, June 28, vaccination will be extended to all public sector employees.
3. If positive, all students will be in the same classroom. No “discrimination” will be between vaccinated and not vaccinated as it is the case in France. Contact cases will be tested and isolated pending results.

Sources
https://www.sortiraparis.com/actualites/a-paris/articles/258438-covid-la-rentree-scolaire-2021-se-fera-avec-un-protocole-sanitaire-de-niveau-2-a
https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/hong-kong/article/3143600/coronavirus-vaccinated-students-hong-kong-could-soon
https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/no-change-expected-in-schools-covid-19-measures.893710 
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/schools-to-remain-open-no-school-based-covid-19-transmissions-from-recent-cases 
https://yar.mk.ru/politics/2021/08/23/edinaya-rossiya-uchebnyy-god-v-shkolakh-nachnetsya-1-sentyabrya-v-ochnom-formate.html