ANKARA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkey is reopening schools in rural areas in the first phase of a program amid a vaccination drive which is expected to include teachers, but experts cautioned against any easing of COVID-19 measures.

After reopening some schools last September, Turkey went back to distance learning as of late November last year, following a new wave of coronavirus infections which prompted a stricter health protocol such as night and weekend lockdowns.

Schools in villages started welcoming students as of Monday, but the general reopening of most schools across the country is expected on March 1, as teachers are to be included in the inoculation program later in February, health officials said.

Some 130,000 students are expected to go back to countryside schools. Another 5 million will return to school in March. In-person education will be two days a week, and students will spend rest of the week at home with remote education or live classes.

Despite a considerable decrease in daily infections, the number of daily cases in Turkey increased in early February again to above 8,000, with the trend rising particularly after the new strains were detected.

Moreover, medical experts and scientists continue to warn that it is too early to begin face-to-face teaching at schools and a new surge might emerge.

"We have 7,000 to 8,000 (daily) cases now. Because there is a new variant, I frankly think that it is too early to talk about lifting or loosening restrictions," Mustafa Necmi Ilhan, a Health Ministry's Social Sciences Board member, said, local press reported.

"For now, I think it will be a bit early to consider decisions about opening schools or lifting other restrictions," this expert warned.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last week that schools in remote areas would be the first to resume education. Primary schools, between grades 8 and 12, will start in-person education on March 1 while the schedule for other grades is not clear.

Turkey has launched a vaccination rollout in mid-January and since then the number of people who have received their first doses of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines has topped 3 million, Turkish Health Ministry announced.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that Turkey aims to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its population of 83 million.

Ilhan said the vaccination of teachers will facilitate the reopening of schools.

"Children should not lag behind in education, but this does not mean that we should ignore the measures. Teachers, students and their parents should comply with rules," he told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Schools already have a set of guidelines and measures in place, such as enforced social distancing in classrooms, mandatory masks and delivery of hand sanitizers.

While schools are getting ready to a partial resumption of in-person education, teachers and parents seem worried about a new surge of infections.

"We are prepared but parents are still quite anxious and some have said that they are not planning to send their children's to school yet," Belgin Parlak, the headmaster of an Ankara private school, told Xinhua.

"We naturally believe that children belong to school and the best education is when teachers and pupils are physically in a classroom, but we are also a bit worried," she noted.

While some parents are hesitant to send their children back to school, others are more than happy to do so in order for their kids to fraternize with their schoolmates.

"My son is 13 years old and he is depressed at home. Online education may be the best method during this pandemic but it can never take the place of a proper school with interaction between teachers and students," said Leyla Cavlan, a mother of two.

"It's also a relief for parents because it's very tiring to deal with a bored grumpy teenager," she added.