KRG mandates mask-wearing across schools despite mass vaccination of teachers: Official

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – As schools across the Kurdistan Region resume in-person classes on Tuesday, the government decided to make mask-wearing mandatory despite the mass vaccination of teachers, according to a decree released by the ministry on Sunday.

Tuesday is the first day of the school year across the Kurdistan Region.

To ramp up the vaccination of schoolteachers and educational institutions, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) dedicated an entire week for the sector’s employees to receive a jab.

Read More: Kurdistan vaccinates education sector’s staff, teachers before the start of new academic year

Mask wearing is mandatory across all schools for teachers, students, and those who work at those institutions, according to the education ministry’s decree.

As a first step, the ministry is distributing 2.5 million face masks along with 50,000 hand sanitizers to all public schools, the ministry said.

The staff working at food-serving facilities at the schools must be fully vaccinated and practice mask-wearing, the decree said. 

So far, 35 percent of teachers have received a dose of vaccine, according to the latest figures from KRG.

Since March, the Kurdistan Region has administered nearly a million vaccine doses, according to the latest figures from the official vaccination tally.