New York City schools closed for rest of academic year amid pandemic

Mayor Bill de Blasio says New York City's public schools will be closed for the rest of the school year as the city struggles to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

The mayor made the announcement Saturday. Schools in the nation's largest public system have been closed since March 16.

A massive effort to move instruction online has met with mixed success in the city.

Many low-income students lack Wi-Fi and devices for connecting to their virtual classrooms.

Authorities in some other states including Virginia and Pennsylvania have previously announced that schools will be closed for the rest of the year.

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Denmark set to reopen schools amid easing elsewhere

Denmark will take its first steps towards relaxing coronavirus restrictions by reopening schools this week.

Children aged 11 and under will return to schools and day-care centres from Wednesday as the country looks to gradually lift its lockdown. Denmark has had 270 deaths from 6,100 cases, but fatalities and hospital admissions have stabilised in recent days.

Other lockdown measures, such as the closure of bars, restaurants and shopping centres, as well as bans of gatherings of more than ten people, will be in place for at least another month.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned the path back to some form of normality will only work if lockdown rules were gradually eased.

She said: ‘This will probably be a bit like walking the tightrope. If we stand still we could fall and if we go too fast it can go wrong. Therefore, we must take one cautious step at a time.’

Norway will reopen kindergartens next week and junior schools another week after that. Austria will open some shops from today.

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Are schools open or closed for term 2 amid coronavirus in Australia?

Australian governments’ positions on whether to send children to school in term two while coronavirus social distancing rules are in force has many parents confused.

Throughout March the Morrison government opposed school closures on the basis of medical advice, but the issue was forced by Victoria bringing forward its school holidays and other states and territories introducing pupil-free days to prepare for online learning.

Now, with the end of school holidays approaching, the national cabinet, states and territories are revisiting their guidance about whether to continue learning at home or send children to school.

What does the federal government say?

On Sunday the federal education minister, Dan Tehan, said the federal government “wants all schools open”. The issue will be revisited at national cabinet on Thursday, with the federal government pushing for a consistent national approach.

Tehan noted states and territories had “put in place different arrangements”. “But what the nationally consistent approach is, when it comes to parents who have to work and vulnerable children, schools have to be open and have to make sure that they provide a safe learning environment for those children.”

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