Just one week before schools in Luxembourg reopen to final-year students, the petition adds to growing pressure on the education ministry to reconsider its strategy Shutterstock

Just one week before schools in Luxembourg reopen to final-year students, the petition adds to growing pressure on the education ministry to reconsider its strategy Shutterstock

Students and pupils have been homeschooled since 16 March as part of measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. Under the current strategy, they are expected to return in waves during the month of May.

Petition 1550, which gathered 6,075 signatures just three days after going live on 24 April, could put a stop to that.

Just one week before schools in Luxembourg reopen to final-year students, the petition adds to growing pressure on the education ministry to reconsider its strategy after teaching and students unions called for a roll-back of starting dates and other measures.

The petitioner takes an even stronger stance than the unions, however, saying that learners should not return until the start of the new school year in September.

They write under general motivation simply: “to protect all children”. The petition is not expected to close until 4 June. Whether or not it will be discussed in parliament before then remains to be seen.

How to reopen schools is a challenge facing governments all over the planet. A recent Financial Times article pointed out that there is no "one size fits all" answer as pandemic and cultural factors must also be considered. Among the latter, a key concern is cultures with multi-generational households, like in Italy, which experienced a fast spread of the coronavirus. Italy will not reopen schools until September. Denmark reopened its primary schools ten days ago and has promised to screen all people with covid-19 symptoms.

Luxembourg on Friday announced massive scale screenings for anyone who chooses. Education minister Claude Meisch (DP) strongly encouraged students and teachers to get tested.