BAGHDAD, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Iraqi students and teachers on Monday returned to classrooms for the start of a new school year after two years of studying online due to the spread of the coronavirus.
Early in the morning, the students went to the thousands of primary and secondary schools across the country, except for the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, which started the school year earlier.
Spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Education, Haidar Farouq al-Saadon, told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that more than 11 million students began the academic year.
He said that the ministry has coordinated with the health ministry to raise health awareness among students about the coronavirus pandemic.
"The Ministry of Education has coordinated with the Ministry of Health to raise the level of health awareness for students about the coronavirus pandemic, by highlighting the need to maintain health-protective measures to continue their attendance and learning in classrooms," al-Saadon told INA.
Earlier, the Ministry of Education decided to adopt a schedule of four days a week in classrooms for all students, while the ministry is expected to approve teaching selected lessons two days online each week.
Also in the day, Iraqi Prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi told the students during his visit to a secondary school in central Baghdad, "you are our future and Iraq prospers and develops through you," according to a statement issued on al-Kadhimi's media office.
"I advise you to study hard, your hard work today will pay off tomorrow," al-Kadhimi told the students.
The start of the new school year came as the Ministry of Health reported a decrease in COVID-19 cases. However, the ministry repeatedly calls on citizens to adhere to health-protective measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, especially with the beginning of winter.
The ministry reported 1,046 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, raising the nationwide caseload to 2,055,248.
It also reported 32 new deaths, bringing the death toll from the virus to 23,170.
The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country reached 5,896,149.
Iraq has been pushing forward its vaccination drive since the drug authority approved in January the emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccine and other COVID-19 vaccines.
