Schools to be disinfected while closed

The desertion of all schools across the island will serve to contain a potential spread of coronavirus but will also allow crews to disinfect all premises before schools are re-opened.

Secondary school teachers however expressed concern over a possible extension of the suspension of schools beyond the one week period announced on Wednesday by the Education Ministry. Concerns mainly related to covering curriculums and final exams.

President of the teachers’ union POED told Kathimerini that schools across Cyprus will close their doors for preventative reasons, and explained that while closed cleaning staff with disinfect all school facilities.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education said all schools islandwide will be closing for one week as of Friday as part of mounting government measures to prevent an escalation of the coronavirus outbreak which saw cases rising to seven on Thursday.

In its announcement on Wednesday, the Ministry said it was looking into the possibility of providing distance learning classes through online educational tools, particularly for secondary school graduates currently preparing for their end-of-year Pancyprian examinations.

The Education Ministry said it will also be looking into extending the school term to make up for lost teaching time.