Skopje, 23 August 2021 (MIA) — The state has no plan or recommendation to test students for Covid-19 ahead of Sept. 1 when schools open or during the new school year, the way some countries are introducing free PCR tests for children. Health authorities have been "gathering experiences from European countries and will review them this week," Health Minister Venko Filipche said at the government's "Get Vaccinated!" campaign launch Monday. "By all means, we'll introduce anything that can additionally protect public health. However, we have to be sure any measures we take would be effective, or produce results we can learn from," Minister Filipche told reporters. He said the Ministry of Education and Science and the Infectious Diseases Commission had developed public health protection Covid-19 protocols for schools opening for in-person learning. Around 65 percent of school and preschool employees were vaccinated, he added, pointing out that school principals were urging unvaccinated staff to get their coronavirus shots. The health minister said 100 percent of health workers caring for Covid-patients — and 75 percent of all health care system employees — were vaccinated so far. Education Minister Mila Carovska, too, earlier on Monday reiterated the governmental decision to reopen schools in the 2021-22 school year for in-person learning. She said the decision was backed by UNICEF and OECD, adding that schools reopened fully in developed countries, as well. If the epidemiological situation deteriorates, the Ministry of Education and Science has devised two other possible scenarios. One is for students to attend either online or in-person classes — as was the case in the 2020-21 school year — and the other is for schools to introduce hybrid learning. In the latter scenario, students would be in classrooms only part of the time, with groups alternating weekly between online and in-person instruction. mr/