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More than 320,000 children and young people will return to their classrooms this morning for the first time since they left them last December.
They include more than 260,000 elementary school children in the country, as well as 60,000 Leaving Certificate students.
The special schools will also move to full capacity today, serving only half of the students on alternate days for the past two weeks.
Students have missed a total of 33 instructional days at the school during the closure.
The Teachers’ Union of Ireland has urged vigilance to ensure the return is safe and sustainable. The union has said that it is “absolutely imperative that all safeguards and measures are followed to protect health and safety in schools.”
The union’s general secretary, Michael Gillespie, warned that while the preference of teachers is to return to face-to-face teaching and learning, “there is understandable anxiety among everyone in school communities, particularly given concerns about new strains of the virus”.
TUI has said it will not tolerate violations of key safety measures at workplaces.
As schools reopen, unions representing school workers, as well as public health authorities, will be closely monitoring data on Covid cases in schools and transmission rates.
Speaking yesterday on RTÉ’s This Week, HSE Clinical Director Dr. Colm Henry reiterated that while there is no zero risk, the evidence to date shows that child-to-child transmission is not a major driver of the virus. .
However, Dr. Henry said he understood the concerns surrounding the new B117 variant.
The variant, which is now dominant here, has been shown to be considerably more transmissible. This has contributed to a heightened concern for safety among teachers and other school workers, and some parents.
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The Executive of the Health Service has resumed the publication of weekly data related to schools. The latest data shows that five cases of the virus were detected in special schools during their first week and a half of opening. Three of the cases were in adults and the remaining two in children.
Teachers and other school personnel who are pregnant or in a high-risk health category or who are over the age of 60 will continue to work from home for the time being. This is likely to cause staffing difficulties in some schools.
The pregnancy clause will affect the number of teachers available to return to the classroom in particular, because Ireland’s teaching workforce is predominantly female and very young.
A significant proportion of special needs assistants are over the age of 60.
March 15 has been set as the deadline for the return of all remaining elementary school children, as well as fifth-year second-grade students, with the return of the remaining second-grade students proposed after noon. Easter holidays. But the government has indicated that these targets could be postponed if rising Covid-19 transmission rates make it advisable to slow down the gradual reopening.
Face masks
There are mixed opinions about the use of face masks among elementary school children.
The primary teachers’ union, INTO, has said that while it favors the mandatory use of masks for everyone in a school setting, including pupils, it does not ask for it due to the current absence of supportive public health advice .
The Department of Education has said that the use of masks for children under the age of 12 is not recommended at this time.
However, he also noted that the Health Protection Surveillance Center (HPSC) keeps infection prevention and control measures under review in all sectors.
While some elementary schools have written to parents to encourage the use of face masks by pupils, principals at other schools have said that children, especially young children, would have a difficult time wearing the masks correctly.
Parents
The Deputy Medical Director has warned parents and others not to view the reopening of schools as an opportunity to resume normal activities.
In a letter addressed to them, Dr. Ronan Glynn said that NPHET’s “most important concern is that parents and society at large will take this as a sign that other forms of mixing and mobility are now accepted in the home.” .
Dr. Glynn said parents should avoid congregating at school gates, play dates should not take place, and parents who can work from home should continue to do so.
He said that despite the progress, Covid-19 was still circulating at high levels.
Saying that the risk of Covid-19 had been carefully weighed against the damage that sustained school closures can cause, Dr. Glynn said: “We must do everything possible, individually and collectively, to ensure that schools reopen result in the least possible increase pressure on the reproduction number “.
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