Wrote: Endrit Berisha
It has been claimed that the start of the school year in Kosovo has been postponed due to monkeypox.
The claim was made through a TikTok post by the account named "kosovaplus".
"Latest news for students: School lessons postponed until 15 09 2024, the main reason is the return of the virus (monkey pox)", is the claim shown in the published video.
The truth?
After fact-checking by hibrid.info, it turns out that the claim published by this TikTok account is false. The new school year is expected to start on September 2. There is no announcement from the Ministry of Education on this issue. As in Kosovo, so far there have been no cases of monkeypox registered.
Link to the publication of "kosovaplus" on TikTok:
The description of the “kosovaplus” account on TikTok reads “the latest news in Kosovo, + a joke cap here and there”. The publication has received almost 290 thousand views as of the time of writing. There are more than 200 comments on the post. Some of them seem to have taken the news for granted, based on the comments (see here).
facts
The Law on Pre-university Education specifies that the term school year is defined as “the period of time that begins on September 1 of a year and ends on August 31 of the following year, determined by the Ministry, as defined in the Kosovo Curriculum Framework, separately for schools and training institutions (see hereThis year the school year is expected to start on September 2nd, because the 1st is a Sunday – which is a day off.
Hibrid.info has verified in the category of "news”And“documents" on the website of the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (MASTI). No news or document has been found confirming the postponement of the start of the 2024/2025 school year.
Also, hibrid.info has verified the Facebook account of the National Institute of Public Health in Kosovo (IPH) for the announcements about the monkeypox situation. On August 15, this institution said that no suspicious cases have been reported in Kosovo. It called for caution, while stating that there is no room for panic.
Analyze:
The TikTok account "kosovaplus" has falsely claimed that the school year in Kosovo this year will be postponed by two weeks due to monkeypox.
After verification by hibrid.info, no such notification was found from the Ministry of Education. Also, health authorities in Kosovo have assessed that the situation with monkeypox continues to be calm and that so far there is no suspicious case in Kosovo.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.