The Ministry of Education and Merit has confirmed that bomb threats received by schools across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday are, in the preliminary assessment of the Directorate for Scholastic Continuity, suspected hoaxes. Evacuations were carried out in accordance with standing procedure. Students were relocated to designated assembly points in school courtyards, where they remained for a period the Directorate has described as proportionate.
The threats were not the principal item at Tuesday’s emergency session. That item was the midday meal. Following requests from several regional offices, the Directorate has opened a consultation on whether the national lunch rotation should continue to include carbonara on Thursdays, a dish that a number of parents’ associations have described as “not carbonara.” The Culinary Standards Committee has been asked to issue a finding by Friday.
Schools that were evacuated will serve lunch on Thursday from the existing rotation, pending the Committee’s finding. Parents are advised that the security situation and the pasta situation are being managed by separate teams, which are in regular contact.
The Ministry has asked the public to remain calm, to refrain from forwarding threat messages, and to withhold comment on the carbonara matter until the Committee reports.