Denmark schools begin reopening after month-long closure

Denmark began reopening schools for younger children on Wednesday after a month-long closure to combat the novel coronavirus, becoming the first country in Europe to do so.

Nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools were restarting after they were officially closed on March 17 in an effort to curb the COVID-19 epidemic, though many had shut before then.

However classes are only resuming in about half of Denmark’s municipalities and in about 35 percent of Copenhagen’s schools, as others have requested more time to adjust to health protocols. All are expected to reopen by April 20.

In the centre of the capital Copenhagen, some 220 pupils up to the second grade arrived at the Norrebro Park Skole, welcomed by their teachers who waved Danish flags. Children in the third and fourth grade will follow on Thursday.

The children quickly settled into the reorganised classrooms designed to comply with strict new sanitary guidelines.

“I feel great, really good about the kids going back to school,” Caroline, a 38-year-old and mother of two, told AFP.

In early April the country’s centre-left government announced that schools would be reopened “on the condition that everyone keeps their distance and washes their hands.”

But while schools are gradually reopening, bars, restaurants, hairdressing and massage parlours, shopping centres and discos remain closed, and gatherings of more than 10 people are banned.

Schools are required to ensure that a distance of two metres (about six feet) is maintained between desks in classrooms and recesses must be organised for small groups.

A headache for teachers is that they must ensure that pupils are never in groups of more than two while inside and five outside.