According to the new presidential decree, which updates the preventive measures against the covid-19 pandemic during the public calamity situation, in force until February 9, elementary school students (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grades), whose classes have been suspended since March 2020 as a result of covid-19, will return on February 10 to face-to-face school activities.
Classes from 6th to 13th classes, which resumed on 5 October, as well as those of higher education, are maintained, but there is still no date for the restart of preschool activities.
"The 6th grade has returned [to the presential classes] and, fortunately, it has been going well, it means that the teachers and the school boards have taken on their role well", the minister congratulated during a press conference in Luanda, where the new measures were presented.
Luísa Grilo admitted, however, that "it is necessary to reinforce the safety measures at school and continue working on the daily hygiene of the facilities".
"It's a big responsibility to open the schools, it's the biggest group, there are many children all over the country," stressed the governor, adding that there are more than two million children who were "stopped".
According to the minister, the schedules will be unfolded, in order to avoid the presence of students more than two and a half hours confined.
Luísa Grilo made a positive balance of the first academic quarter in person: "We had no alarming cases, with the exception of Kwanza Sul where boarding students had to be confined, but everything is in place so that the two remaining quarters will run smoothly".
The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, provided extra money for the provincial governments to ensure the necessary biosecurity conditions in all the schools.
"We won't achieve the ideal conditions, let's have no illusions, the schools have been degraded for many years and it's not in a short time that we will be able to" improve, said the minister, guaranteeing, however, that conditions are created to return to school safely.
Health authorities reported 61 new cases this Monday, a record number of 953 recovered and four more deaths.
In total, Angola has 18,254 confirmed cases, of which 3009 are under treatment, 14,825 have recovered from the disease and 420 have resulted in death.
