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Teachers will seek assurances from the government and public health officials this week that schools are safe to reopen as planned on January 11, union representatives said.
Teachers union leaders say their members are deeply concerned about the record number of Covid-19 infections being recorded and the transmission of the new variant of the virus in the community.
The National Organization of Teachers of Ireland, the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and the Union of Teachers of Ireland (TUI) want the National Public Health Emergency Team to examine school safety measures for Covid-19 given that scientists they say this new variant is more infectious.
The government and the Department of Education have said they “fully intend” to reopen schools as planned starting January 11, after extending the Christmas school holidays by three days last week to allow contacts from people are minimized before the return of the children.
The department said so and public health officials believe that “schools remain safe places of learning for all members of the school communities.” Meetings with unions are planned this week to discuss reopening schools as the number of new Covid-19 cases in the third wave of the disease rises here.
TUI Secretary General Michael Gillespie said teachers were “very, very concerned” about the reopening of schools given the “unprecedented increase in number” in relation to Covid-19 cases, and they were “very interested “in seeing how the new variant works. being evaluated.
“The schools did very, very well in the first quarter. We get ahead of the curve. We did not expand the numbers, but if there was a breakdown in a community, the numbers were reflected in the schools, so obviously these numbers will be reflected in the schools, ”he said.
Contact tracking
Contact tracing worked effectively to reduce the spread of the virus during the second wave in October, but teachers were now concerned about the effect of the new approach of not referring close contacts of positive cases for testing, Gillespie added.
“If they tell us that the schools are safe and that the contact tracing is working properly, obviously that will help us to have confidence in the system.”
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said Sunday that it was the “firm intention” of the government to reopen the schools as planned, but that further evaluations would be considered closer to reopening.
“We have no advice from public health authorities that we should close schools,” he told RTÉ’s This Week radio program.
Transportation Minister Eamon Ryan said he believed Level 5 restrictions in place since Christmas and the government’s advice that people should stay home will lower the infection rate to allow schools to reopen on January 11. .
“It’s something we’ll have to review and look at, but the evidence, and I think our public health advice, is that we should be able to do it,” he told Newstalk’s On The Record program.
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