Department of Defense Education Activity’s AFNORTH International School in Brunssum, Netherlands, has about 880 students. In-person classes at the school are being delayed by a rise in COVID-19 cases and Dutch requirements. (AFNORTH Elementary School/Facebook)
All but three Defense Department schools in the European region resumed in-person classes Monday following the winter break.
The return of in-person classes for students at Department of Defense Education Activity schools in Bahrain and the Netherlands was delayed for at least a week because of coronavirus restrictions in those countries.
Bahrain is requiring that all children and staff members returning from travel learn and work remotely for 10 days, according to a letter school administrators sent last week.
More than 560 students are enrolled in the two U.S. military schools in Bahrain, and about 880 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade attend a DODEA international school in Brunssum, Netherlands.
Bahrain Elementary School and Bahrain Middle/High School were slated to begin remote instruction on Tuesday. Students were given Monday off to allow school staff members a day of preparation.
Department of Defense Education Activity Bahrain School, shown here in 2019, will spend at least its first week back to school after the holidays in remote learning. (Stars and Stripes)
Playground activities at the Defense Department elementary school in Manama, Bahrain, will have to wait. Students there return from winter break with remote learning in place. (Michael Harari/U.S. Navy)
The decision to go to remote learning in Bahrain was due to the high number of students and teachers returning from holiday travel, a DODEA-Europe spokesman said Tuesday.
Current information on the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain website says that on returning, unvaccinated students must complete a mandatory period of distance learning for 10 days and then test out of quarantine.
Bahrain on Friday recorded 656 new coronavirus cases, according to the online news outlet Gulf Daily News. Of the new cases, 198 were expat workers, 347 were close contacts and 111 were travel-related, the report said.
In the Netherlands, meanwhile, schools are closed until at least Sunday as part of a nationwide lockdown. AFNORTH International School in Brunssum was to begin remote instruction Tuesday.
Remote learning will remain in effect through Friday and may be extended, pending a decision by the Dutch government on whether to remain in lockdown, school officials said in a letter late last month.
The Netherlands went into a lockdown before Christmas to stem the omicron variant, shutting down nonessential stores, bars and restaurants until Jan. 14.
