ATHENS – Education Minister Niki Kerameus is trying to assure anxious parents that it will be safe for elementary schools to reopen on June 1 with a further lifting of a lockdown that was aimed at preventing the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus.

Secondary schools opened the previous week although there many students didn’t return with the focus on preparing seniors to take college entrance exams, although strict hygiene protocols were in effect to keep students further apart and with staggered class schedules.

Kerameus briefed President Katerina Sakellaropoulou on the gradual return of students and used the meeting to defend a New Democracy bill to have teachers be evaluated for performance, which they are fiercely resisting.

Kerameus assured Sakellaropoulou that the reopening of schools was being done cautiously and on the basis of advice by health experts, said Kathimerin. The President said that schools are a “natural space” for children but said she understood the potential risks.

Kerameus said the reform bill was aimed at “improving schools” as it would overhaul lessons and assessments of teachers and would include conduct reports of students in their graduation certificates.