Peru won’t reopen schools in 2021

Peru is bucking the trend of Latin American nations with regard to school re-openings. While in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, in-person attendance is gradually returning, ​​Guido Bellido, the head of the Council of Ministers, said this will not be the case in the Andean nation this year. “The third wave is coming and we are not going to face it with in-person classes. This can be discarded,” Mr. Bellido told the press.

Peru remains at the top of global charts in terms of registered Covid-19 related deaths per capita, and while vaccination has been slowly picking up pace, only 28 percent of its population has received at least one dose, with 21 percent already vaccinated in full. 

Some schools in the country have been an exception to this trend, launching “semi in-person” regimes. But 97 percent of them are in rural areas, in which Covid-19 is seen as less of a direct threat due to lower population density. “Let’s reopen schools when vaccines are guaranteed for all Peruvians,” newly-inaugurated President Pedro Castillo also said over the weekend.

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