Why Leaving the Classroom During Breaks and Approaching the Blackboard is Prohibited: Zhanna Andreasian

We need to clearly understand what our motive is when we limit children's ability to leave the classroom during breaks. Naturally, no one wants to impose rules that may lead to additional complications in schools, but our motive is to minimize the risk of infection spread in schools as much as possible.

Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasian said this during a meeting with reporters today.

“Imagine a situation where children leave the classroom during breaks and there are random interactions among all students in the school. If we suddenly have an infection case, then we have a very high likelihood of its spread. However, if we localize children's interactions, we can ensure the continuity of education, because it is stipulated that if there are cases of infection at a rate of 10 percent or more, the school will not operate for a certain period. This type of localization primarily derives from the need to ensure the continuity of education, so we can minimize the risk of virus spread. After all, we have learned to accept restrictions as a necessity during these months. Let’s remember the spring months when we had to stay at home, and children learned not to go out to play. These rules stem from the general pandemic regulations, and it must be understood that we all need to adhere to these rules if we want to return to normal life as soon as possible.”

Addressing the issue of not approaching the blackboard, Andreasian stated that we have many teachers who know various ways to work with children. One such method is conducting classes in nature, which can take place in many different environments where there is often no need for a blackboard. “The reason to not come close to the blackboard seems quite obvious to me, as approaching it involves students taking the chalk, using it, and then someone else coming up, taking the same chalk, which increases the risk of infection spread. Meanwhile, in the guidelines, we even have a point suggesting that children should not exchange items with each other, for example, books, notebooks, and pens, because any additional contact like that increases risk. Perhaps each individual case may seem like a small risk, but when we are talking about 400,000 children, the consequences of such unregulated interactions in each school can be unpredictable and significant.”