PARIS (Reuters) – French Minister of National Education Jean-Michel Blanquer on Sunday ruled out the possibility of postponing the start of the school year after the Christmas school holidays due to concerns related to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
“School is essential for children, it is the last thing to close,” the minister said on BFM TV.
“This is not the preferred hypothesis. We would only do it as a last resort,” added Jean-Michel Blanquer in response to a question about a possible postponement of the start of the school year.
In the Netherlands, where the government announced a new lockdown on Saturday because of a new epidemic wave, schools will be closed until January 9.
(Report Matthieu Protard and Geert De Clercq)
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