As new school year nears, Kurdistan students can choose remote or in-person learning: Official

Mask-clad students listen to their instructor on the first day of the new school year in the Kurdistan Region amid the coronavirus pandemic, Sept. 27, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Safen Hamid)
Mask-clad students listen to their instructor on the first day of the new school year in the Kurdistan Region amid the coronavirus pandemic, Sept. 27, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Safen Hamid)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the Kurdistan Region's top education official says the government allows students to choose either remote or in-person learning as the new school year approaches.

Schools were shut down across the region early in the pandemic as part of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) efforts to limit the deadly infection's spread. Due to the lack of an effective alternative to in-person learning, students missed out on months of schooling.

For the 2020-2021 school year, the authorities facilitated remote learning options and are now mounting a vaccination campaign for education staff to make in-person learning a safer experience.

Read More: Kurdistan Region prioritizes teachers to receive COVID-19 vaccinations

Students are free to choose whether they want to physically go back to classes or continue their education from home, education minister Alan Hama Saeed told Kurdistan 24 on Thursday.

Parents would need to fill out a form within two weeks of the beginning of classes to choose their preferred option, the minister added.

Students taking classes virtually "will still be required to take tests physically," the official continued.