Ljubljana - Slovenian schools will receive an additional EUR 2 million to cover the cost of substitute teachers amid acute shortages of teachers due to Covid infections or high-risk contacts. Education Minister Simona Kustec gave the go-ahead for this on Thursday.

The workload of the remaining teachers has increased as a result of the Covid-related absences, and they are busy with not only in-classroom instruction but also distance teaching in the case of students who are either in quarantine or self-isolation, the Education Ministry said in a press release.

The extra funds will cover the period from January 2022 through June 2022 at the latest. They are intended for substitute teachers in special-needs educational institutions and in music schools, and for substitute teachers whose substituting is not considered lesson time. Moreover, the funds will go to teachers in primary schools who have stepped in to substitute for their colleagues more than five hours a week.

The funds have been set aside in this year's budget purse, including EUR 1.5 million for primary schools, EUR 150,000 for special-needs schools and EUR 350,000 for music schools.

According to the national Covid tracker, the numbers of classes and primary and secondary school students sent into quarantine are decreasing. This decline can be partly attributed to the new quarantine regime, under which an entire class is sent into quarantine only if the share of infected children in it reaches 30% in a two-week period.

The number of teachers and other school staff who are in quarantine is also declining, however the related shortages persist. The ministry has taken a number of measures to mitigate the situation, including by encouraging additional recruitment of staff, the release adds.