All primary and secondary schools will reopen on Monday with the mandate of testing for coronavirus twice a week but nurseries, kindergartens and pre-primary schools opened on Friday.
And this has sparked protests from public school pre-primary teachers who argue that there is not a single protective measure in place upon return of these children aged between five and five and a half.
Those at primary schools, they note, are aged six and above.
The cabinet decided to reopen schools as planned, with pupils, teachers, and administrative staff returning on Monday with mandatory 48-hour negative tests.
From then on, all pupils must undergo mandatory testing twice a week, including in primary schools where testing was weekly.
The union of primary school teachers (POED) had called on the Ministry of Education for teachers and children of pre-primary school to also return on Monday, January 10 – like everyone else.
POED head Haris Charalambous, in a post on the internet, referred to a “criminal decision” and asking: “Do they send them to get sick?”.
