Schools across Croatia reopen their doors on Monday as another school year starts, however this isn’t a normal school year, it’s a Covid effected year. The Croatian Minister of Science and Education, Radovan Fuchs, has stated that unvaccinated teachers and professors will have to wear masks, whilst their vaccinated colleagues don’t have to.

The unions said that instructions and measures are always brought at the last minute, to which the Minister replied that they said the same thing last year and it passed without any problems. "Everything is ready, instructions have been sent, schools have been prepared. All principals of all schools in the Republic of Croatia were interviewed. We are in constant contact. It would not be wise to announce the measures a month or two earlier when you do not know in which direction the pandemic will develop,” commented Minister Radovan Fuchs to the news network N1.

Only around 58 percent of school teachers and professors across Croatia are vaccinated, and when asked about this shocking fact the Minister stated that 71 percent of educators in higher education are vaccinated so “people who do science obviously believe more in science.”

It is recommended that face masks for pupils in schools are to be worn from the 5th grade of elementary school to high school graduates, but the final decision to wear them is made by the school principals.

“They are worn in cases where it is not possible to maintain a distance. The principal may decide that masks do not have to be worn in class. Masks must be worn in corridors and on school buses. Vaccinated educators don’t have to wear masks at lectures, while unvaccinated ones should,” the minister said.