ATHENS — Main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras on Monday wished all school pupils, parents and teachers a good school year, in a message marking the first day of the new school year on social media.

Tsipras said schools were opening without any real change or improvement in the measures to protect against the spread of the novel coronavirus, such as smaller class sizes, more teachers or more classrooms:

"The only thing that has changed are the rules: At the beginning of last year they told us that children don't get infected in schools. Then they said that schools must shut first because our children were multipliers of the virus. This year they are saying that in order for schools to close, at least 15 children in each class must fall ill at the same time."

"The feeling that once again fills us as the first school bell rings is insecurity and worry," he added, noting that parents did not have to be epidemiologists "to understand what this could mean."