How will the new school year look in the Czech Republic? Here's what we know

Czech Minister Adam Vojtěch (for ANO) and Education Minister Robert Plaga (ANO), this week will discuss the conditions of school operation in the next school year regarding coronavirus, Vojtěch told public broadcaster Czech Television (ČT).

“I have a meeting with the Minister of Education this week, where we will deal with this,” Vojtěch said, adding that it will be important for people to be well-informed about the rules of school operation.

Schools in the Czech Republic were completely closed for part of the past semester due to the spread of coronavirus. The Education Ministry previously stated that the possible measures against coronavirus, which schools should follow in the new school year, will probably be specified in August.

Vojtěch said possible anti-coronavirus measures for schools will be targeted at specific places of infection. “It is certainly not in our interest to take any measures that will have a general nature, such as the general closure of schools. Rather, it will be that an infected student may appear in a school, and quarantine will have to be ordered on that basis,” Vojtěch said.

Education Minister Plaga in June promised that his office over the summer break would give instructions for schools to follow in the event of a possible second wave of coronavirus in the autumn. He said the rules should clarify the conditions for standard teaching as well as for distance learning in the case of short-term or even long-term quarantine.

Prague Hygienist Zdeněk Jágrová said on July 23 that she expects schools to open in the autumn, and she does not so far see a second wave of the virus. “The numbers aren’t growing exponentially,” she said. She added that face coverings were likely to again become required on public transportation.

The coronavirus pandemic affected the second half of the last school year, causing schools to be closed since March 11. It was only after two months that they began to gradually open again to a limited extent. Until the end of the school year, however, attendance was voluntary and students could learn from home.