Cedefop

On 5 February 2020, the Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE), in collaboration with the health ministry, issued the first circular informing parents and legal custodians about Covid-19 with information on protection measures that minimise the spread of respiratory infections. A fortnight later, the MEDE issued a second circular.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Croatian healthcare system faced a global shortage of medical supplies such as gloves, masks and disinfectants that protect healthcare workers against infection with SARS-CoV-2. In March 2020, numerous VET providers engaged with this shortage in a bottom-up initiative to produce face shields through 3D technology.

The Finnish Government decided on 30 March that restrictions on contact teaching at different levels of education would be continued until 13 May. Teaching continued mainly in the form of distance learning. Later, the Government updated the restrictions so that contact teaching could restart at all levels of education as of 14 May. However, it recommended that distance learning should continue until the end of the school year for all other than basic education. Nordic countries are closely following each other’s actions in meeting the challenge of Covid-19.

Following the declaration of a state of emergency, the physical presence of students in basic, upper secondary and tertiary professional schools was prohibited by the Resolution of the Czech Government of 12 March 2020. The state of emergency was declared for 30 days and subsequently extended until 17 May 2020. From 12 March 2020 until the end of the school year, 30 June 2020, online forms of learning have been used.