Between the enthusiasm of the children and the fears of the parents, thousands of students across Costa Rica returned to face-to-face classes on Monday, after almost a year of distance learning due to the pandemic.
There are 1.19 million children and young people enrolled in the public educational system, which reopened its doors under a model that combines face-to-face and distance lessons.
Some private schools had restarted face-to-face classes a week earlier.
Yustin, a fifth grade boy from Buenaventura Corrales School, in downtown San José, said that on the first day teachers explained the sanitary protocols: walk on a disinfecting carpet, pass a temperature check and apply alcohol gel before entering the classroom.