Governor of Turkey's largest city Istanbul said on Monday 94.2 percent of school bus drivers and 94.5 percent of attendants have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Ali Yerlikaya tweeted that the goal is to achieve "100 percent" vaccination rate.

After a long hiatus, the new academic year began last week face-to-face across the country despite a large number of daily cases, hovering over the threshold of 20,000.

Nilgun Erkilincoglu, a mother of a 3-year-old girl who entered kindergarten this year in Istanbul, said the high vaccination rate boosted parents' confidence because the unvaccinated children are more vulnerable to the virus.

"As a parent, I can say that this is a remarkably positive development," Erkilincoglu told Xinhua.

Sevda Ceribas, a working mother of a 9-year-old boy, completed registration for the kindergarten bus for the first time this year, saying vaccinating the attendants of school buses is significant as they are in close contact with young students when getting them seated, fastening their seat belts, and helping them get off the bus.

Turkey lowered the COVID-19 vaccination eligibility age to 12 before the opening of schools.

Turkish National Education Minister Mahmut Ozer announced on Monday that his ministry's priority is to keep schools open by taking all health precautions.

According to the minister, 78 percent of teachers have taken two doses of the vaccine on Monday.

Meanwhile, the latest data of the health ministry revealed that 48.9 percent of the country's 83 million population has been double-vaccinated.