Nearly all school children taking part in classroon learning - minister

Over 95 percent of Polish school children are attending regular classes, Poland's education minister said on Tuesday.

Poland is currently in the grip of the fourth Covid-19 pandemic wave, with the number of infections and deaths on the rise.

Przemyslaw Czarnek told the public television channel TVP Info that last year's school lockdowns had been a hindrance to learning and a mental burden on school children, which was why most children were now attending classes at school.

He added, however, that in view of the present rise in Covid-19 infections, school and sanitary authorities were empowered with the right to quarantine pupils or introduce remote learning if necessary.

Czarnek said just under a hundred of Poland's 22,000 schools were fully closed down due to high infection rates, which he called "a negligible percentage."