ZAGREB, 16 Sept 2021 - Students and teachers of primary and secondary schools in Sinj must wear masks in class on Thursday, despite a recommendation of Sinj's civil protection team to lift the obligation to weak masks in schools.
"About 300 students and 25 teachers of the Dinko Šimunović Secondary School are today obliged to wear a protective mask in class, and the situation is the same in other secondary and primary schools in Sinj," the school's headmaster Tomislav Bilić told Hina.
He added that headmasters of primary and secondary schools in Sinj discussed on Wednesday evening the mandatory mask rule. He also said that one of his school's students was positive to COVID, and ten were in self-isolation because they had been in contact with the infected student.
On Wednesday, Sinj's civil protection team, at the proposal of Sinj Mayor Miro Bulj, made a decision recommending that elementary and secondary school students and teachers need not wear a protective mask.
Bilić said in a press release on the Dinko Šimunović school's website, despite the recommendation of the Sinj civil protection team, that measures on the mandatory wearing of masks in class were still in force.
He added that the school board might propose a decision to abolish these measures after collecting opinions from the Ministry of Science and Education, the teaching council, the parents' council and the students' council.
"I consider that through joint cooperation between teachers, parents, founders, the local team, and epidemiologists we will make the best decision in the interest of all our students," Bilić said in the press release.
The head of the education department within Split-Dalmatia County said on Wednesday that pupils in the county, including pupils in Sinj, were obliged to wear protective masks.
Students of primary and secondary schools in Sinj must wear masks tomorrow and in the next period, in compliance with the rules proposed by the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) and the Ministry of Science and Education, the county education department's head Tomislav Đonlić said on Wednesday evening in a press release.
The press release was prompted by the decision of the mayor of Sinj, Miro Bulj of the Bridge party, that elementary and secondary school pupils and teachers need not wear a mask.
"Mayor Bulj does not know the rules or intentionally accentuates this issue only to score cheap political points," Đonlić was quoted by the press release as saying.
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