The State Duma proposed to extend school holidays until January 16 due to COVID

Russian schools should extend the winter holidays until January 16 in connection with the situation with the incidence of CORONAVIRUS, suggested Yana Lantratova, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education, in a letter to the Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov. it is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the text of the document.

“In order to prevent the deterioration of the epidemiological situation and disruption of the educational process, I ask you to consider the possibility of extending the holidays for schoolchildren by a week until January 16, 2022 inclusive,” the deputy suggested, adding that missed classes can be compensated in the following months.

Kravtsov has repeatedly stated his unwillingness to change the format of education and introduce a remote mode of teaching schoolchildren. So, at the end of December, he assured that schools would continue to work in the traditional format after the holidays. “The transition to the distance only in an emergency. We don’t see a situation to introduce a remote format,” he said, noting that the ministry intends to follow the development of the situation.

In mid-December, the Moscow authorities decided to send school students on vacation three days earlier. The holidays were supposed to start on December 30 and last 11 days, but this year the schoolchildren went to them for two weeks - already from December 27. The mayor's office explained that the decision was made on the basis of positive experience during the extension of the autumn holidays. “The two-week separation of children is extremely effective in breaking the chain of spread of the covid-19 disease among schoolchildren,” the Moscow Department of Education and Science explained.