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.
Students in Costa Rica returned to face-to-face classes on Monday after almost a year of receiving distance lessons due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Classes were resumed in person for older students: fifth and sixth grades of primary education, and those of ninth, tenth and eleventh in secondary education, according to educational authorities.
A total of 1.19 million children and young people are enrolled in the public educational system, which returned to classes under a model that combines face-to-face and distance lessons.
The resumption of face-to-face lessons occurs at a time when Covid-19 cases show a marked decline in this country of 5 million inhabitants, which has already started a vaccination campaign for health and safety workers as well as older adults.