Georgian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport has updated recommendations due to the resumption of in-person school studies.
These recommendations, designed to organize the learning process in schools and keep schoolchildren's parents updated, have been communicated to all schools of general education.
Recommendations and rules include:
Transporting students
Thermal screening of students before boarding school transport
With a body temperature of 37°C or higher, parents must be notified immediately and the student must return home
With the temperature be within acceptable limits, students must wear facemasks aboard school transport.
Before entering school:
Students must keep 1 meter apart in line for thermal screening
Any person entering a school must have the temperature checked by a school representative
With the temperature be within acceptable limits, visitors must use disinfection mats and hand sanitizers, and only then proceed to their destinations.
With thermal screening showing a body temperature of 37°C or higher, visitors are escorted to a special area, and follow-up temperature check is performed with a medical thermometer 15 minutes later.
With a body temperature of 37°C or higher, teachers, administrative staff, technical personnel, and visitors are not allowed inside a school.
With a body temperature of 37°C or higher, students are escorted by a school representative into a special isolation room prepared in advance. The school will contact the students' parents or legal guardian responsible for transporting the students from the school in a timely manner. If they fail to report to the school in a timely manner, the school is obligated to contact 112 for relevant medical services.
Students' personal hygiene in school:
5th through 12th graders must wear facemasks in common circulation areas.
Students must keep a 1-meter distance when circulating inside a school.
After bathroom use, students must wash their hands with soap and wipe them with a tissue.
If students' hands get dirty in class, they must apply hand sanitizers.
In case of coughing or sneezing, students must cover their faces with bent elbows or use disposable tissues, which must be placed in a lidded trashcan after use.
Before and after eating, students must wash their hands in line with applicable instructions.
Recommendations for parents:
If children have a fever or show respiratory symptoms, they must be kept at home.
Parents are obligated to inform the school about the reason of their children's absence from classes, and request a house call from a doctor or transport their children to a fever center.
Recommendations for teachers:
Teachers must wear facemasks inside the school circulation areas.
Upon entering the school, teachers must use the disinfection mats.
When moving between classrooms, teachers must apply hand sanitizers.
Teachers must communicate with students' parents via remote services.
Teachers must inform students' parents about the organization of the learning process and sanitary/hygiene norms in the school.
Teachers must apply themselves to raising awareness among their students.
The recommendations on the organization of the learning process, issued by the Ministry at the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year, will also remain in force.
To ensure full compliance with safety norms and recommendations in the learning process, schools will be monitored. Wet areas have been put in order in almost 800 schools.
Schoolteachers and administrative staff are tested for COVID-19.
On the Ministry's initiative, schools have been instructed to develop strategies for communicating with parents, as part of which parents will be constantly updated on such issues as:
Providing schools with special equipment, disinfection mats, hand sanitizers, and non-contact thermometers.
Measures taken to maintain and clean schools.
The condition of school wet areas.
Dividing classes into shifts, class schedules, and schedules for schoolchildren with special educational needs using resource classrooms.
Organization of student flaws entering, exiting, and circulating in the schoolyard and building.
Ensuring thermal screening.
Requirements related to facemask use along the school perimeter.
Remote learning for public schoolchildren.
Mandatory COVID-19 testing for school personnel.
Time and format allocated for communication with parents.
The parents of schoolchildren are allowed to choose between in-person and remote learning.
All public schools in Georgia allow students with special educational needs to choose between in-person and remote learning. To apply for said services, their parents are requested to register their children online, at https://online.emis.ge.
The Ministry allows teachers from risk groups to continue working remotely.