PHOTOS: Pupils return to school for second time since COVID-19 pandemic started

Halgurd Sherwani 2021/09/14 15:35

Three female pupils pose for a photo at their school yard in Sulaimani province on first day of school, Sept. 14, 2021. (Photo: Dana Hama Gharib/Kurdistan 24)

Kurdistan School

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – For the second time since the beginning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which forced the shutdown of all educational institutions in the Kurdistan Region, pupils returned to school on Tuesday, the first day of the 2021-22 academic year.

In the capital Erbil, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani rang the bell of new school year in presence of his cabinet’s education minister and the city’s governor. Schools in Duhok and Sulaimani also opened their doors to students.

A group of female students raise the Kurdistan Region flag on the first day of school in Erbil, Sept. 14, 2021. (Photo: Rebaz Siyan/Kurdistan 24)

The Education Ministry announced on Monday that it is mandatory for students to wear face masks. It provided nearly 2.5 million masks along with thousands of hand sanitizers to help reduce any transmissions of the virus.

A student wearing a mask in school yard on the first day back to school in Erbil, Sept. 14, 2021. (Photo: Rebaz Siyan/Kurdistan 24)

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has returned 13,000 dropout students to school, the prime minister announced earlier today.

Students in a classroom on their first day back to school, Sept. 14, 2021. (Photo: Dana Hama Gharib/Kurdistan 24)

Ahead of the student's return to school today, the government set an entire week aside for teachers to get vaccinated.