STA, 1 February 2021 - The opposition Left, backed by three opposition parties, proposes changes to the eighth stimulus package that would temporarily remove the provision saying that the government must okay the call for applications to enrol in university courses.

The move comes after the government did not give its consent to the release of Slovenia's call for enrolment into tertiary education institutions for the 2021-2022 academic year at last week's session.

The Higher Education Act sets down that the institutions publish the call at least six months prior to the start of the academic year, meaning on 1 April at the latest.

Time is running out though as the relevant timeline envisages the deadline to be set around 1 February.

Under the proposal tabled by the Left, the government's approval would not be necessary. The changes would also allow higher education institutions to accept more students than planned in case of greater interest.

Higher education institutions should be able to decide how many students they will accept on their own, the Left said, adding that their proposal, which was backed by the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Social Democrats (SD) and Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), was in line with a petition against destroying higher education and science published by the academia.

Members of the academia expressed protest against the government's interfering with higher education and science, saying the cabinet was making irrational moves that were undermining the systems that were among the pillars of this country.

The universities of Ljubljana, Maribor and Primorska, as well as the national high school and student organisations, several science and research institutes and trade unions said that the government's move was unexpected and not in line with the practice so far. They also added that just like in the previous years, the relevant document had been coordinated with the relevant ministry.

Mojca Škrinjar, an MP for the senior coalition Democrats (SDS), meanwhile said that there was a purpose in the government's power to decide about the number of openings at faculties. This is a strategic issue, not only in terms of education but also in terms of employability and development, she said.

"All government departments must give this serious thought," she said, adding it was right for the government to take the time it needs to see whether the existing proposal is good.

The Slovenian Democratic Youth (SDM), the SDS youth wing, also thinks the government acted responsibly since it warned that youth employability should be taken into account.

Emilia Stojmenova Duh, the head of SD's council for science, innovation and IT society, said in Maribor today that creating a conflict between science and technology, and humanities was misguided, as the society needed both.

According to her, the number of vacancies for studying science and technology, and humanities in Slovenia was comparable to the situation in other developed countries.

She said that the Employment Service had been looking into which are the professions of the future together with the Labour Ministry, universities and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS). "Such questions require a lot of dialogue with different stakeholders," she stressed.

The Left said that Janša's government had in the past already reduced the number of vacancies at faculties for humanities and favoured private institutions.

The party is convinced Janša is trying to "enforce a capital ideology and decisions on what is productive and what is not". He demands higher education that will serve the market, meaning the capital, and nothing else, the party said.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport published today a call for enrolment into colleges for the 2021/2022 school year, but not for universities and other tertiary education institutions.

STA, 1 February 2021 - After protests calling against closure of schools in black-tiered regions were held in a number of towns this weekend, calls for reopening of schools from a several stakeholders continued on Monday.

The Headteachers' Association president Gregor Pečan intends to urge the government to reopen schools in the entire country if coronavirus testing among teachers conducted today shows no significant increase since a week ago.

In case of breakouts, the situation should be addressed locally, with individual classes going into isolation and switching to distance learning, he said.

Until 5pm today, 16,590 tests were conducted among teachers who teach in person with 229 coming back positive for a positivity rate of 1.4% - the same share as a week ago when 17,435 test were performed until 5pm and 244 returned positive, the Health Ministry told the STA.

Pečan said he believed most schools managed to provide today's mandatory testing without having to close for the day.

Currently, kindergartens and children in years one through three are back in schools in seven of Slovenia's 12 statistical regions. Schools and kindergartens in black-tiered regions are closed, providing only emergency childcare.

On Tuesday, schools reopened in nine regions, but only two days later the government decided that they close again in the Obalno-Kraška and Zasavje regions after the two regions slipped back into black tier due to an increase in coronavirus cases.

The decision was met with much disapproval and several hundred parents in the two regions, but also elsewhere, took to the streets this weekend.

Today, parents left their children's school bags in front of several schools in Zasavje and on the coast, while a school on the coast saw pupils boycotting remote lessons, public broadcaster TV Slovenija reported.

Many parents do not agree with the closure, because the bulk of the new infections in the regions that slipped back into black were detected among elderly residents of care homes.

While protests are expected this afternoon as well, director of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) Milan Krek warned that they were sources of infection. "What's more, children took part as well. If any of them is infected, everybody will be," Krek warned.

The left-leaning opposition parties believe that schools should reopen as well, with the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), the Social Democrats (SD), the Left and the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) requesting an emergency session of the parliamentary Education Committee.

They intend to use the session to exert pressure to achieve that all children return to classrooms and kindergartens, said SAB deputy group head Maša Kociper.

Luka Mesec of the Left said that the opening and closing of schools indicated a complete lack of care for children and parents. He believes that the only way for the situation to improve is to "change the government as soon as possible".

Meanwhile, the education faculties of the Ljubljana and Primorska universities called on Education Minister Simona Kustec to allow the youngest pupils back into the classrooms.

STA, 31 January 2021 - Several hundred people gathered in Koper to protest against closure of schools on Sunday after the Obalno-Kraška and Zasavje regions slipped back into black tier last week. The government decided schools should return to remote teaching and kindergartens close on Monday after pupils in grades one to three were allowed back for only four days last week.

The protest was initiated on social media and drew parents, as well as children and other protesters, carrying banners saying "Schools must remain open", "Enough! Zoom is cancelled!" and "Open kindergartens, shut down government!".

V Kopru se je zbralo večje število ljudi in zahtevalo odprtje šol. Tako kot v soboto v Trbovljah tudi koprski protestniki zahtevajo vrnitev otrok v šole in vrtce.
➡️ https://t.co/Woiwy7khai pic.twitter.com/PR3slkulM6

— TVSLOinfo (@InfoTVSLO) January 31, 2021

"This is not an uprising, this is not a revolution. This is a fight for the basic rights of all of us, but especially our children. We're here today to say no to additional destruction of our children's future," one of the parents said.

The protest in Koper comes a day after some 200 people protested the closure of schools in Trbovlje. Moreover, posts on social media suggest that today and tomorrow parents will be protesting in other parts of the country as well.

Prime Minister Janez Janša responded to the Trbovlje protest in a tweet this morning, labelling it "irrational and dangerous exploitation of children for political purposes in a time of epidemic."

Nerazumno in nevarno izkoriščanje otrok v politične namene v času epidemije. Poleg tega še nezakonit shod. Ravno zaradi take neodgovornosti se stanje v posamičnih regijah poslabšuje namesto obratno. https://t.co/Za3s4zmZEl

— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) January 31, 2021

"The rally is also illegal. It is such irresponsible behaviour that worsens the situation in individual regions," Janša added, also retweeting a tweet saying that the organiser of the Trbovlje protest ran for the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) in the 2018 local election.

In nine of Slovenia's 12 administrative units, kindergartners and pupils in first three grades of primary school were allowed to return on Tuesday, after more than three months.

But on Thursday, the government decided to once again close the schools in Zasavje and Obalno-Kraška regions following an increase in coronavirus cases that pushed the regions back into tier black.

STA, 31 January 2021 - Prime Minister Janez Janša has wondered in a Facebook post whether Slovenia will have a competitive edge in the fourth industrial revolution compared to countries where there are twice as many people studying science and technology than humanities, whereas in Slovenia the share of the former is 37% and 39% of the latter.

This comes days after the government was expected to approve public universities' enrolment plans for next year. The proposal, sent to the government for approval by the Education Ministry, is to be discussed by the cabinet this week, Janša said on Friday.

Laying down the number of positions in public schools and faculties is one of the most important strategic decisions in any country, the prime minister said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

A bad decision may lead to the creation of thousands of youths without employment prospects, he said, adding that the government would pay the matter all due attention.

Pointing to numerous Slovenian and EU resolutions on innovation, AI and digitalisation, he said "we are saying that only innovation and new technologies can protect us from the effects of global warming. At the same time, we are planning enrolment in our public schools and faculties, determining the knowledge our children will have in 5, 10, 15 and 20 years":

"With a student structure of 39% in social sciences, humanities and arts compared to 37% in natural sciences, technology and IT, will Slovenia hold any competitive edge at all in the fourth industrial revolution compared against countries where this share is 1 to 2?" Janša wonders.

Plans also must take into account professional dynamics in real life, he said. "A good engineer or a doctor may become a good manager in the course of their professional career. But it is very rare that a good economics major, a philosopher or jurist becomes a good engineer or doctor in the course of their career."

The country needs knowledge both in humanities and technology. But the shares of the different professional profiles are determined by the demands of a specific time period, the needs of the business sector and public services, as well as other factors such as demographics and ecology, Janša said.

It is impossible to say exactly how many experts in which field will be needed in 5 or 20 years, but it is possible to see very clearly what highly-developed countries are doing, he said. It is also very clear what professionals have the hardest time finding work.

"Additional enrolment of a large number of unemployables despite possibilities to make realistic assessments verges on social madness," said Janša.

STA, 29 January 2021 - The government has not yet okayed this year's call for applications to enrol in university courses in what the Slovenian Student Organisation (ŠOS) sees as an encroachment upon tertiary education autonomy. The University of Ljubljana management thinks the procedure could be jeopardised, a risk Prime Minister Janez Janša dismissed.

The government did not give its consent to the release of Slovenia's call for enrolment into tertiary education institutions for the student year 2021-2022 at Thursday's session.

According to Janša, the issue is of strategic nature, taking into account youth employability, and will have to be discussed by the relevant committee prior to the government's decision.

At today's briefing the prime minister went on to say that the government had not yet discussed the matter due to a lack of time since the Education Ministry had submitted the relevant documents only a few days ago and there was no time for the issue to be debated by the government committee in the first place.

A list of items currently being discussed by the government shows that the application call proposal was released a week ago.

Janša said at the briefing that the proposal would be discussed by the government next week.

The higher education act sets down that the institutions publish the call at least six months prior to the start of the student year, meaning on 1 April at the latest.

Time is running out though as the relevant timeline envisages the deadline to be set around 1 February.

The news of the developments comes as a shock to the chancellors of Slovenia's public universities, they said after today's Chancellors' Conference.

The chancellor of the University of Maribor, Zdravko Kavčič, who also chairs the conference, warned that the entire enrolment process hinged on the 1 February deadline.

Students should have enough time to decide on their academic path so any delays in this process, even if they have a legal basis, directly harm the entire generation of senior secondary school students, he noted.

On top of all Covid-related challenges, they are now facing uncertainties regarding the number of course vacancies that could not be resolved at the coming university open days, he said, calling for the proposal to be given a go-ahead as soon as possible.

If there is anything wrong with the current system, such shortcomings could be discussed, Ljubljana University Chancellor Igor Papič said, warning that the procedural timeline should be heeded though.

"I really don't understand why we're doing this to the young. Let's be sensible," he urged.

Their calls have been joined by Chancellor of University of Primorska Klavdija Kutnar and Nova Gorica University Pro-Chancellor Mladen Franko.

Kutnar noted that the developments put public universities on an unequal footing with private ones since the latter are not required to get the government's green light.

Addressing a letter to the government's secretary general Božo Predalič, she also inquired about the matter on Thursday in her capacity as the head of the higher education council, however she has not yet received a reply.

Papič told the newspaper Dnevnik today that this step by the government could have serious consequences as the entire 2021-2022 enrolment process could be at risk.

The left-leaning think-tank Alternative Academy concurred with him in a press release, saying that the developments were a brutal and dangerous dismantling of universities.

Janša meanwhile denied that today, first on Twitter and then at the briefing, saying that the procedure had not been blocked or jeopardised.

Since the proposal has not yet been discussed, the government could not tell whether it is good or bad, he added.

On the social media platform he wrote today that to discuss the proposal, the relevant committee required data on staffing needs of the business and public sectors and the state in general.

The labour market needs are of course part of the criteria relevant for preparing courses and setting the number of course vacancies, however they are not the only or the most vital criterion, said the ŠOS in a press release, adding that the government "has made the already challenging year even more difficult for all the students at uni and secondary schools".

The organisation noted that the government had not discussed the call even though it had been coordinated by stakeholders and the ministry.

Based on experience, the ŠOS expects that the number of vacancies will be restricted mostly in terms of liberal arts courses at public universities and that enrolment in private tertiary institutions will be promoted, which according to the organisation is not effective and is not related to the needs of the market.

The prime minister meanwhile told the briefing that vacancies could not be based on wishes expressed by those managing public faculties. The matter is the state's strategic development document that should be taken very seriously, he highlighted.

It makes no sense to pledge to become digital, green, advanced and innovative if we then fail to enable a sufficient number of youths to enrol in courses training for essential professions of the future, he noted.

Janša also posted on Twitter that the proposal envisaged the bulk of vacancies in liberal arts (39%), followed by science and technology (37%).

Responding to his statements, the chancellors said that the situation also depended on the available staff and the faculties' infrastructure, noting that it was hard to predict which professions would be essential in five years' time.

They also denied they could be responsible for any delays in the procedure.

At the briefing the prime minister said that he had instructed Education Minister Simona Kustec to look into the reasons for the proposal being submitted behind schedule and to sanction those responsible for this.

The Labour Ministry has been urged to present the staffing needs by the time the government is to discuss the proposal, he added.

The higher education trade union meanwhile addressed a letter to Kustec, voicing concern over the developments and highlighting it would oppose any potential attempts to destabilise public tertiary education institutions.

The trade union called on the minister to resolve the situation or step down.

The student councils of the Ljubljana, Maribor and Primorska universities are also condemning the fact that the government has not yet greenlit the proposal, warning about the ramifications of this. They think the government has thus indicated that education is no longer regarded as a public good.

The councils condemn any education-related restrictions and urge the government to include student university representatives in the discussion.

SVIZ, the main trade union of teachers, is also upset by the developments and expects the ministry to resolutely call for the government's immediate go-ahead for the proposal.

The Education Ministry meanwhile told the STA later that it submitted the proposal on 22 January. In line with regulations, the matter will be first discussed by both relevant government committees on Tuesday and then at a government session, it added.

The government discusses the proposal and relevant documents every year, "the only difference this year is that the documents were submitted to the government too late to wrap up the discussion by 1 February".

The opposition Left has announced it will request an emergency session of the parliamentary Education Committee to discuss the matter and other opposition parties intend to back this. The parties see the government's step as yet another reason for tabling the ouster motion against Kustec.

STA, 28 January - The Ministry of Education has notified schools in Zasavje and Obalno-Kraška regions that schools and kindergartens will have to close once again on Monday. The decision comes only two days after pupils of the first three grades and kindergartners were allowed back in nine of Slovenia's 12 administrative regions after more than three months.

The two regions have slipped back into black tier and the government decided on Wednesday that all non-essential services would shut down once again, leaving the decision on schools for today.

The closure comes less than a week after the government decided to allow in-person education for the youngest children and kindergartners, and some additional services to reopen.

Speaking to the press after the government session, Education Minister Simona Kustec said the government also introduced a key change, allowing schools to provide childcare to graders one through three whose parents work in essential infrastructure and security services.

Commenting on the decision to close the schools in the two regions, Kustec said Slovenia has entered a period of constant change and the the government followed closely its epidemic exit plan, under which schools in black-tiered regions are closed.

A number of school heads who will have to switch to remote teaching again next week have expressed regret and disappointment with the decision, with many pointing out that the situation had worsened in their region due to an increase in the number of infections in care homes.

They underlined that the rules of social distancing are being upheld at schools and several have said that their entire staff had tested negative for the coronavirus earlier this week.

Apart from Zasavje and Obalno-Kraška regions, Goriška, Posavska and Southeastern Slovenia are also in black tier.

In black-tiered regions only stores selling mostly groceries are allowed to remain open, as well as some services, such as hair dressers. Kindergartens provide child care only to children whose parents cannot arrange any other form of child care.

Meanwhile, special needs schools remain open also in the black-tiered regions, with staff obligated to get tested once again on Monday.

Exceptions to a ban on gathering in schools remain in place, so as to allow school councillors to provide emergency aid to children and to allow schools to carry out procedures related to completion or continuation of schooling, such as enrolment.

In the seven red-tiered regions, children will remain at home on Monday, as staff will get tested for coronavirus again, Kustec also said.

The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) has advised the government to prioritise keeping the schools open if the situation deteriorates, closing instead other potential locations of infection transmission.

Bojana Beović, the head of the government's coronavirus advisory group, meanwhile told the press today that they did not have a position on whether it was sensible to close schools again after only a week.

"My personal belief is that it is unpleasant to close schools after only a week and that it would be good to take a look at regions individually," Beović said.

The latest data of coronavirus and Slovenia

STA, 25 January 2020 - Kindergartens and the first three grades of primary school in Slovenia will open as planned on Tuesday despite additional confirmation that the highly virulent UK variant of coronavirus has been present in Slovenia since the start of the month.

After almost three months of closure, the partial reopening was decreed by the government last week, but the plan was thrown into doubt today when Prime Minister Janez Janša told parliament "we still don't know whether classes in schools will really be re-started on Tuesday."

After confirmation that the UK variant is in Slovenia, he solicited opinions from the Education Ministry and the National Public Health Institute (NIJZ), which both said the reopening may proceed. "Let's help teachers to make sure work is safe," Janša tweeted in the afternoon.

The Education Ministry said in its opinion schools were prepared and classes would be safe, while the NIJZ said its position remained unchanged and noted that it would carefully monitor the situation at educational institutions and "propose further measures at any sign of a deteriorating epidemiological situation".

All efforts now need to be invested in managing the epidemic at the national level and making sure the school environment is safe for children and staff. "If restrictions need to be tightened, other potential transmission locations should be closed first," the NIJZ said.

Slovenia conducted mass testing today of all teachers who will return to in-person teaching tomorrow.

STA, 25 January 2020 - Mass testing of teachers and other personnel in education is under way in Slovenia on Monday in the largest such testing operation yet as kindergartens and the first three grades of primary school are set to reopen in nine of Slovenia's 12 regions on Tuesday, with a final decision due in the afternoon.

No major disruption is reported in what is the largest single-day testing for coronavirus so far.

Some kindergarten and school staff are being tested in their institutions or in community health centres, while testing for more than 3,000 employees of kindergartens and primary schools in the capital is organised at the Ljubljana fairgrounds.

Gregor Pečan, the head of the Association of Head Teachers, told the STA that while there were no official responses from his colleagues around the country, while some staff had already expressed their disagreement with the mandatory testing beforehand.

"Procedures are running smoothly, and we have not had a positive case so far," said the head teacher of the primary school in Dol pri Ljubljani for the school in question, where around 90 employees are to return to work tomorrow.

In the Ljubljana municipality, kindergarten and primary school staff are being tested since the early morning, and 3,260 of them are expected to be tested by 8pm.

Around 1,100 persons were tested in the first four hours, and only three infections were confirmed, testing coordinator Uroš Zafošnik of the Ljubljana Community Health Centre told the STA. The testing involving around 50 medical staff runs smoothly as the employees had been assigned precise time slots.

Around 800 teachers and other employees in the 20 primary schools in Maribor will start to be tested in the early afternoon.

"The experiences are different, of course, as some head teachers are reporting certain problems, but these are individual cases," Mojca Kirbiš, a representative of head teachers in Maribor, said.

Helena Ocvirk of the Olga Meglič primary school in Ptuj said that employees had had some reservations about the testing at first, but later accepted the measure as it was mandatory for those who wanted to work with children in-person.

Health Ministry State Secretary Alenka Forte told the press that today's testing was the "largest testing in a single day so far", adding that it was a major organisational and logistic challenge.

According to Forte, no complications with the mass testing with rapid antigen tests have been reported so far.

Testing will have to be repeated every seven days, while the staff who have recovered from Covid-19 and those who had been infected more than three weeks ago need not to be tested.

Around 53,000 primary school pupils and almost 75,000 kindergarten children are expected to return to classrooms tomorrow, after in-person classes for special needs children started three weeks ago.

However, this is still not certain as Prime Minister Janez Janša, speaking in parliament today, put the reopening into doubt, saying that "we still don't know whether classes in schools will really be re-started on Tuesday."

Janša said he expected the opinion from the Education Ministry, the National Public Health Institute and the government Covid-19 advisory team on the matter by 4pm.

The prime minister explained that the issue remained open because of the discovery of the highly transmissible UK coronavirus variant in Slovenia. Studies in the UK show that it spreads fast among children, he added.

STA, 21 January 2021 - Education Minister Simona Kustec presented on Thursday detailed rules for next week's reopening of kindergartens and schools for the first three grades in nine out of the 12 Slovenian regions. She said teachers would have to wear masks at all times, children will have to mask up only outside their classrooms or their bubbles.

Children from one group will form bubbles and will not be in contact with other groups. The size of the groups will be determined by head teachers.

Children will stay in their classrooms during breaks as well and will also eat lunch there. They will use the gym one group at a time.

Pupils who are advised against attending school for health reasons will continue to do schoolwork at home.

The state will provide additional masks to schools and kindergartens that will request this.

Obligatory coronavirus testing for staff will be performed on Monday and in-person classes will start on Tuesday.

Distance learning will remain in place for all other students, and for music schools. At universities, obligatory lab classes will also be allowed.

Prime Minister Janez Janša called for a safe return to schools on Twitter, noting that the government had followed the proposals of experts and the Constitutional Court despite having reservations.

The head of the Association of Head Teachers, Gregor Pečan, told the STA the partial reopening of schools had been expected given the government's criteria for easing restrictive measures. He said schools were familiar with model C of schooling, which will be in place, so he expects no problems.

According to him, the only thing that may be problematic is the testing of the staff, as a large number of people will need to be tested and the testing will be obligatory. "I know that some have reservations for some reason or another although this is a completely non-invasive procedure," he said.

Schools are preparing for the reopening and will start informing parents about this soon, he asserted.

Bojana Verdinek, the principal of the Prežihov Voranc primary school in Ravne na Koroškem, said she had mixed feelings about school reopening. "On the one hand we are looking forward to it, as it is high time, but on the other we are afraid of special restrictions and recommendations, as some of them cannot be implemented at the moment," she said.

In line with yesterday's government decision, all regions bar Posavska, Southeast Slovenia and Goriška will enter the red tier after a steady improvement over the last ten days that brought the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital below 1,200 and the seven-day rolling average of new daily cases below 1,350.

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 15 January 2021. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Slovenia's future in hands of SMC MPs

STA, 15 January 2021 - The left-wing magazine Mladina appears to be appealing to the conscience of the Modern Centre Party's (SMC) MPs ahead of a potential vote of confidence in the government in the latest editorial. The weekly also finds the release of police pay data is an act of revenge and anger.

Under the headline Decision Week, Mladina writes that Interior Minister Aleš Hojs released the names and pay data of Interior Ministry employees in revenge for part of the police going on strike. However, it also says that the data released make it obvious why the minister was so angry.

"The salaries are irregularly high indeed. Police officers are indeed getting highs bonuses from this government - not based on collective bargaining but based on the government's or the minister's arbitrary decision.

"To put it bluntly: the government has been buying their loyalty with bonuses. That is why Hojs was so angry, because it was his firm belief he has the police on his side, that he has got them on his side with all the bonuses given to them by the government."

The paper says it all goes to show how this government is operating, that the solutions are political and follow the logic that those who are on our side will be rewarded, and those who are against will be punished, a pattern that can be found elsewhere, including in the case of the STA.

Ahead of a potential vote of no confidence in the government next week, the weekly says the decision of Slovenia's future is in the hands of SMC MPs.

"When the SMC joined the Janez Janša government, they pledged to act as a corrective to prevent Slovenia from straying from its democratic path. They did not succeed in that, on the contrary, all gloomy premonitions have come true.

"The police force is beheaded, culture mangled, media that those in power could not reach are under continuous pressure, criticism is not allowed [...], public institutions are witnessing ideological purges, the battle against the epidemic has failed [...]," writes Mladina.

Demokracija: Upbringing benefited by remote schooling

Ljubljana, 14 January 2021 - The right-wing magazine Demokracija writes about the historical trend of political correctness or a "new normal" in the latest editorial, asserting that the spread of this "ideological poison" in Slovenia has been hampered due to the centre-right government and the "Chinese virus", offering distance learning as an example.

Under the headline New Normal, the weekly quotes Archbishop of Krakow Marek Jedraszewski in warning against the rainbow plague, born in the same spirit as the Bolshevist and Marxist plague, and against a new normal, the historial trend of political correctness.

However, the magazine says that as the flow of transmission of that "ideological virus" in Slovenia has been hampered, those disseminating the 'new normal' are "nervous knowing well things are getting out of hand".

"Remote schooling is one such example. If you listen to them well you will notice they will mention the impact on the transfer of knowledge of natural sciences from teachers to pupils only in passing, they are concerned the most about peer socialising and upbringing that is now left to the children themselves and their parents [...]

"If in school the children were forced to spend half a day in the company they did not choose themselves they are now socialising with the peers they pick themselves. Those are usually the kids their parents favour too. It means they are no longer being raised into sheep where the wolfs of the 'new normal' decide what they serve for dinner."

As the second example the magazine offers the government, saying the 'new normal' "does not foresee anything conservative in power, hence the protests (including violent protests), the search for a new PM-designate among people who in normal circumstances would not get even close to politics".

The magazine also notes the announcement by Luka Mesec, the leader of the Left, that if the vote of no confidence in the government is not successful, they will continue filing ouster motions.

In conclusion, the weekly hopes that post-coronavirus "the 'new normal' painted by political correctness will not continue its devastating march, which it is stepping up now by abolishing free internet platforms and profiles of conservative users".

All our posts in this series are here