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The Irish Secondary Teachers Association has asked the Minister for Education to reconsider the decision to return 61,000 students to school part-time.
The cabinet yesterday agreed to close schools for most students starting next Monday as part of new restrictions to address the rise in Covid-19 infections.
However, Leaving Cert students will be allowed to attend school three days a week.
It is at the schools’ own discretion whether Leaving Certificate students attend on consecutive days or whether school days are spaced during the week.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said there is no intention to force schools to make the decision to open classrooms for Leaving Cert students, but said the advice of the National Public Health Emergency Team is that the schools are safe environments.
ASTI general secretary Kieran Christie said his union “can take action” in relation to the government’s announcement that Leaving Cert students will return to school next week.
On RTÉ’s Today show with Philip Boucher-Hayes, Christie said that their union “does not rule out anything” and that there are “many opportunities between now and Monday for the Minister (of Education) to come to his senses.”
It said its members are “completely surprised, puzzled and very disappointed” with the decision, and that it believes it was “hasty, reckless and unthinkable.”
Christie said he is “not convinced” that Foley sought the “appropriate” assurances that it was safe for 61,000 students to return to school.
He said: “The minister appears not to have asked whether it was safe to bring back 61,000 students and their teachers, and I am not convinced that there is any level of consultation with the appropriate medical professionals.”
He said that the “consultative model” that has been used among education actors for the return to schools in light of Covid-19 “has been seriously violated” when he said that the unions were not aware of the government’s decision until which was publicly announced yesterday. .
Colm O’Rourke, who is the principal of St Patrick’s All Boys Classical School in Navan, said the decision to allow Leaving Cert students back into the classroom is to play Russian roulette with the health of the students and teachers.
Speaking to the same show, O’Rourke said the situation must be reversed, particularly as the new variant of Covid-19 continues to circulate.
He said it’s a mess and he doesn’t think many students go to school.
He said it was surprising that schools are expected to open and teachers are placed in a classroom with up to 30 more people, while the rest of the country is being asked to stay home.
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Earlier, the Irish Teachers Guild president called for a pause in plans to bring Leaving Certificate students back to the classroom part-time next week, to allow necessary inquiries to take place.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Martin Marjoram said he is getting unprecedented levels of communication from members who feel the scheme is reckless and at risk.
Mr. Marjoram said the union is not confident that the plan can be implemented safely and practically starting next Monday.
He said an emergency remote teaching and consultation period is needed until the country can see where it is with infection levels and how far it has spread in the school community.
Now is not the time to take a consultative approach on ministerial decrees, he added.
He said the plan does not appear to have been through public health experts before it was announced and that TUI would like this to happen.
Mr. Marjoram said that emergency remote teaching for a short period of time will not cause any significant damage, but a disorderly return could.
None of this, he said, will instill confidence in the school community.
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