Students of the last three high school grades – lyceums- will return to classrooms as of Monday, April 12, 2021, Greece’s Education Minister Niki Kerameos announced on Wednesday.
During the regular live briefing on the pandemic, Kerameos said that grades 10-12 were the first to return to class because they were out of school the longest and because graduating students had to prepare for university entrance exams at the end of the current school year.
In addition, teachers and students will have to take Covid-19 self-tests twice a week before attending class. The tests should be conducted Thursdays and Mondays
They have to enter the results on the online platform self-testing.gov.gr, which is already partly operational.
The system will issue both students and teachers with a negative test result a card every Monday and Thursday. For those without a printer at home, a handwritten note would be sufficient, the minister said.
The cards are obligatory for both groups and students will have to present theirs to teachers during roll call.
Any teacher or student with a positive test result will be entitled to a free rapid test follow up at a public hospital or health center.
Kerameos noted that the education ministry is consulting with the health ministry’s committee of coronavirus health experts towards the reopening of other school grades, but did not provide any details or dates for their reopening.
Note that the during the Holy Week and a week after Easter on May 2, schools are normally closed.
Form to submit test results ready by Sunday
The government’s online platform self-testιng.gov.gr is already open to the public, but the form to submit self-test results will become available on Sunday, said Alternate Health Minister Vassilis Kontozamanis on Wednesday.
Kontozamanis said that coronavirus self-diagnostic tests will begin to be distributed to pharmacies nationwide on Thursday. Some 700,000 self-tests will become available to high-school students (16-18) and teachers by Friday, he noted.
To date, Greece has received 2 million self-tests, and is due to receive another 7 million by week’s end.
Kontozamanis added that anyone who has been administered a molecular (PCR) coronavirus test 24-48 hrs prior to the reopening of upper grades of high schools on Monday (April 12) will not be required to self-test.
Easy procedure
Authorities have said that the procedure for the self-test at home is easy and have released an official video – of course, in Greek only:
Authorities have said that Lyceum students can do the test by themselves but students younger than 13 should need their parents’ help.
I’ve heard some kids saying that they won’t do the test correctly. They won’t stick it up their nose; they will simply do the test without sticking it up their nose in order to guarantee a negative test. If kids are already talking about getting around the test (since they are responsible for doing it), we have to be cautious with validating this procedure as a coronavirus safeguard.
There is always a large margin of error in self-declarations, especially among adolescents.
The entire idea is just horseshit — and presumably is part of organised political corruption, because it sure has nothing to do with medicine.