Slovenia: Education system in Covid-19 time

published on 4 May 2020 | reading time approx. 1 minute

Schools and kindergartens in Slovenia will start reopening on 18 May in a gradual process. Only the youngest and oldest students will return to classrooms, all others will end the year at home.

Kindergartens will reopen first and classes will start in the first three grades of primary schools and for final-year students at secondary schools. Next, final-year students of primary schools will return to class, so that they may complete their primary education. Other students will complete the school year remotely.
 
The measure appears designed to allow parents of small children who cannot be home alone to return to work as portions of the economy which had been shut down gradually restart operation.
 
Before students return to school, the authorities will issue next week detailed guidelines on protective measures that both students and teachers will have to take. Hand sanitizer will have to be available and use of face masks will be mandatory from age 12. Younger children will not be required to wear masks since they are not able to use them properly.
 
We recall that schools and kindergartens closed on 16 March, as one of the first measures to fight the Covid-19 epidemic.
 
In the same time, over 46,000 students have already applied for a one-off 150 euro allowance the government will pay them to help cover their costs of living amid the coronavirus epidemic. This is around 70 per cent of a total of some 65,000 students studying this academic year in Slovenia. The condition is that they are not employed, self-employed or farmers.  The allowance, which does not cover secondary school students, will be paid out by 1 June.