Education Minister Radovan Fuchs said on Monday the rule on wearing masks in school applied to all and that schools and kindergartens would be under surveillance until further notice. Pročitaj više

He was visiting the elementary school in Krapinske Toplice and met with the headmaster and teachers. Last Friday, several persons who object to masks forced their way into the school after the father of one pupil who refused to wear one called for a protest.

The pupil came to school today without a mask again and was denied entry. A dozen people gathered outside to support his father, who does not want him to wear a mask in school.

Fuchs said gathering and protesting around schools was banned while children were inside.

“It certainly wasn’t nice for (pupils) to watch people breaking into the school, to listen to shouting and insults. That’s unacceptable,” he said, adding that everyone could have their beliefs but that rules applied to all.

Whether the rules will be corrected depends on the Covid situation, he said.

Fuchs said the children in the Krapinske Toplice elementary school did not wear masks in classrooms because there was enough room but were obliged to wear them in common areas. “That’s three, four minutes until the child gets to their classroom. I don’t think that’s such a horrible problem for a horde to invade a school and traumatise both children and teachers.”

The decision on mask-wearing was left up to local authorities because the Covid situation is not the same everywhere in Croatia, he added.

Fuchs went on to say that all buildings where lessons were being held and kindergartens “will be under surveillance in coordination with the police until further notice. All those who violate that will be punished under the law.”

He added that security would stay in the Krapinske Toplice school as long as necessary.