Italian schools will reopen on schedule on Monday despite calls for them to return to distance learning amid a spike in the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Education Minister Patrizio Bianchi said Friday.
"There has been no rethink about the return to in-person school teaching," he said.
He rejected a call from over 1,500 school heads to put off the return for two weeks to allow all schoolchildren to be vaccinated against the virus.
"We are very attentive to voices coming from the country but also to the many voices that tell us that schools must remain in-person," Bianchi said.
The government has said classes must go back to distance learning if there are at least four COVID cases in the class.
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