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Teachers unions have criticized the government’s track-and-trace approach as “chaotic”, claiming that time is running out to ensure schools are safe.
Ireland’s National Teachers Organization (INTO) secretary general John Boyle has said he does not expect schools to reopen after the midterm recess under the current circumstances, warning that the government now has eight to nine days to ensure schools are safe.
Speaking in Boyle said school principals had gone up to two weeks without contact tracing completed when there were cases in their schools.
Boyle said he didn’t think the kids would go back to school after the Halloween midterm break.
He asked if parents would be willing to put their children on school buses or if pregnant teachers would be prepared to return to school.
“The government now has eight to nine days to convince me that its whimsical approach to tracking is going to improve,” Boyle said.
Teachers unions are meeting with NPHET today, he said, and are prepared to work with public health officials to ensure schools are safe, but he was concerned about the data to date and exactly how many children and teachers had contracted the virus.
Kieran Christie of the Irish Secondary Teachers Association (ASTI) said there was a lot of anecdotal evidence of long delays in contact tracing after the cases were identified in schools.
The laxity of contact tracing in schools was of great concern, he said.
The union will vote for its members, as the union must be able to “react quickly” if they need to take action.
“We want the schools to open, but we want them to open safely.”
Christie said he needed to be convinced, but the evidence was scant.
“What we are seeing on the ground is different from the pronouncements.”
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