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Public health officials will run a revamped Covid-19 testing and tracking system for schools and will be supplemented by department staff, Education Minister Norma Foley said.
“Contact details will be made available to schools Monday morning as teams roll out,” he said.
Public health officials “have committed to holding weekly meetings with the unions, two of those meetings have already been held. They will specifically address any of the issues, from a public health point of view, that are emerging in schools, ”he said.
“More than 375 million euros have been made available to schools for all the various measures that must be implemented in terms of Covid-19. The balance of 226 million euros is about to be paid for the remainder of the school year. Therefore, there is no doubt that there are no funds available, ”he said.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 This Week on Sunday, he said that last week’s request for a hand sanitizer to be removed from schools for safety reasons was something he absolutely regretted doing during a midterm break. .
Last week, the Department of Education ordered the recall of more than 50 hand sanitizer products, following a review of the products after the Department of Agriculture ordered the recall of a hand sanitizer, ViraPro, due to safety concerns. .
The schools were ordered to stop using 22 hand sanitizers, 14 wet wipes, eight hand soaps, and eight detergents that were removed from the department’s approved product list because it had not been possible to “confirm their registration status as part of the revision”.
Ms Foley said the timing of product disposal was “far, far from ideal, but it was better to do it once the information was at hand, it was important to act proactively.”
The short notice angered teachers ‘and school managers’ unions who say principals were under great pressure to secure supplies in time for schools to reopen on Monday.
“We immediately set up a helpline for our schools and, in fact, there has been a great commitment to it. Until today [SUNDAY]we have received around 400 calls, almost at and around 10 percent of what our providers projected. Ten percent of the schools bought varying amounts of products from the framework, ”he said.
“The Department will continue to finance the purchase of measures that are required from the EPI framework and we are talking about around € 300,000,” he said, while “there was no indication that any of these products are harmful in any way. “
His decision to act in favor of their removal was “out of precaution.” The same products were “widely available in stores, supermarkets and other local institutions and agencies,” he said.
Leaving Certificate 2020 will take place on November 16 and will continue through December 11 with the participation of 2,818 students, “less than 5 percent of the eligible cohort,” he said.
It was “the intention that Leaving Certificate 2021 be the traditional Leaving Certificate as we know it. That is what we are planning and this is how we are proceeding, ”he said.
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