16:18, 26 August, 2020

YEREVAN, AUGUST 26, ARMENPRESS. School children in Armenia won’t be allowed to exit the classrooms during recess when schools get re-opened from September 15th.

Deputy Minister of Education Janna Andreasyan says this is done as a safety precaution to reduce the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks.

“We must clearly understand what our motive is for restricting the children’s opportunity on exiting the classrooms during recess. Our motive is to maximally reduce the risk of spread of the virus at schools,” she said.

She said that by standard procedures a school will be shut down for a certain period of time in the event of having 10% or more infection cases. Andreasyan said the coronavirus guideline also encourages children not to exchange items with one another, for example books or pens, and maximally reduce contacts.

400,000 children are expected to return to schools on September 15th after the COVID-19-related shutdown.

Reporting by Lilit Demuryan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan