Albania To Open Schools in September Despite COVID-19 Rise

Albanian Minister of Education Besa Shahini at a press conference in March 2020. Photo: LSA

"Classes will be conducted following strict hygienic and sanitary protocols and by preserving social distancing," the ministry said in a Facebook post.

It said that schools that are already overcrowded will operate in shifts to create conditions for social distancing.

Albania is currently in the midst of a COVID-19 resurgence with about 150 new cases each day. Since mid-June, the country has had more new infections than recoveries, which means that the active caseload has been growing.

The opposition Democratic Party in opposition called the decision to reopen schools "irresponsible".

"The government has no plans and bases its operation on nervous tics," said Albana Vokshi, a Democratic Party representative.

But the Ministry of Health pointed to the situation with kindergartens, which have been allowed to open since June, without causing too many problems.

Albania's public education system has been hit hard by both the pandemic and the powerful earthquake that struck the country in November 2019. Currently there are about 96 schools not operating or partly operating due to damage caused by the earthquake, with about 40,000 pupils affected, according to the Ministry of Education.

This has also caused more trouble during the pandemic because about 20,000 pupils in densely-populated areas of central Albania have been transferred from quake-damaged schools to other schools.

That means some schools have higher ratios of pupils than before in a country where huge population movement over the last three decades has overcrowded schools in urban areas and caused the closure of scores of schools in the countryside.

As of Wednesday,...