More risks from closing schools than opening them- minister

(ANSA) - ROME, 18 NOV - Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said Wednesday that the various costs of closing schools during the COVID-19 pandemic could be higher than those of keeping them open.
    Italy's high-school students are not going to class at the moment, but are having lessons via distance learning, as are pupils in the second and third year of middle school in red-zone high-contagion-risk regions.
    But Campania has closed all of its schools, including elementary and nursery schools, as had Puglia, before the decision was reversed after a court ruling.
    "Opening schools does not entail risks, if anything, the risk is closing schools," Azzolina told RTL radio.
    "There is regionalism of inequality at the moment. Some children are going to school in red zones while others are not, even though they are not in red zones.
    "I think it's a cultural problem. The school system has always been treated like the country's Cinderella from all points of view, including cuts.
    "Today this is changing, including with the budget law, but also in terms of the attention from families, students and the media". (ANSA).