Speaking to the state TV on Tuesday, Iranian Education Minister Mohsen Haji Mirzaee said the schools will reopen on coming Saturday.

The teachers and school staff will be available at schools in the working hours, and the students will attend classes to ask their questions and get prepared for the exams, the minister added.

The schools can also run the final exams as of next week as soon as the students’ problems with the lessons are addressed, Haji Mirzaee noted.

The education minister underlined that all schools across the country have received the health protocols and instructions from the Health Ministry and will be obligated to observe the health rules when the students return to classes.

The educational centers in Iran have been closed since late February following the outbreak of COVID-19.

While the pandemic shut down schools and forced people to stay home to prevent the spread of the disease, the Ministry of Education launched a homegrown mobile application, dubbed SHAD (HAPPY), providing students with distance learning programs.

Moreover, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) also began to broadcast televised educational programs on a daily schedule immediately after the school closures.

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“Even after initial steps to open up were introduced from April 20, the number of new infections remained low,” read a draft agreement seen by AFP Wednesday, with “no new wave of infection” so far detected — justifying the series of bolder reopening steps.

So far, only certain children like those soon facing exams had been allowed to return to class.

But now kindergartens and primary schools will also reopen from next week.

“Step-by-step, schools should make possible education of all pupils while implementing appropriate hygiene measures and upholding distancing rules,” the document read.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and premiers from Germany’s 16 federal states are expected to sign off on the text later Wednesday.

Meanwhile, it will be up to the individual regions to decide how to proceed with reopening universities.

Regarding shops, the politicians said all could reopen but requirements “for hygiene, managing entry and avoiding queues forming” would be imposed.

So far only shops up to a floor space of 800 square meters (8,600 square feet) had been authorized to resume sales.

States will also have a free hand over whether to reopen restaurants beginning on May 9, as well as on decisions affecting theatres, concert halls, nightclubs, and gyms.

Meanwhile, the one major coronavirus restriction set to remain in place — likely for several months — is a ban on large gatherings like sports matches, cultural events or festivals.

Such events will remain forbidden until “at least August 31”, according to the text.

What’s more, lockdown measures will be reimposed if the number of coronavirus infections begins to mount again.

If more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants are detected within seven days, the affected city or district must impose “a corresponding lockdown plan”.

In case of a “localized and clearly containable infection pattern” — such as in a single institution like an old people’s home –, the measures could be limited only to the specific place affected, rather than a whole region.

The government also includes a general call for Germans to continue to maintain a safe distance from one another and wear masks in shops and on public transport.

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