Luxembourg's Ministry of Education, Children and Youth has presented details of the legal framework for health measures in the education sector.
In response to demands made in the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament), the Education Ministry has confirmed that it will seek a legal basis for COVID-19 measures in schools and other educational structures.
Measures such as the suspension of activities and the switch to distance learning, as well as the obligation to wear a mask in schools and childcare facilities, will thus be enshrined in the so-called COVID law. This is aimed at providing a legal basis for eventual sanitary measures that may be justified should the health situation deteriorates.
The Education Ministry recalled that the ambition of its policy remains unchanged: "to continue to ensure the right to education of all students by providing face-to-face teaching for as long as possible, while giving [itself] the means to react in a targeted and flexible manner to changes in the health situation". The ministry added that this ambition was shared by all partners in the education sector during their various exchanges on the matter.
To achieve this goal, several legal approaches are possible. Whilst the Education Ministry pleaded in favour of a legal framework which stipulates the possibility of deciding on the necessary measures through a Grand Ducal regulation, the State Council raised various constitutional obstacles associated with this approach. Consequently, the ministry decided to adopt the approach chosen for other sectors of activity such as catering, i.e. enshrining the measures in law.
The ministry added that any other measures at the national level will also be anchored in the COVID law as part of future adaptations.
