ATHENS – Greek students will join high school seniors who had already returned to school during the COVID-19 pandemic, classrooms reopening to the rest of them on May 10, except for kindergartens, their doors shut until May 20-24.

More than 1.1 million pupils and 127,300 teachers are going back to school after being taught remotely online but they must show proof in mandatory self-tests that they don't have the Coronavirus.

Free testing kits are being distributed by pharmacies across the country to educators and pupils, said Kathimerini, for those who are registered on the government’s database with their or their parents’ AMKA social security number.

The test must be done the day before and the results  posted on the self-testing.gov.gr platform, which will generate a note clearing the individual for attendance if the test is negative or instructing them to get tested again at a public medical center if it is positive. Foreign nationals must be assigned a temporary AMKA for use with the system.

Kindergartens will have to wait, Deputy Interior Minister Stelios Petsas told Mega TV as the New Democracy government's advisory panel of doctors and scientists are still discussing whether it's safe and the difficulty for kindergarten students to self test and also wear masks.