Plans to reopen schools under way as it’s ‘one of safest things’ – Varadkar
DETAILED planning for the reopening of schools is getting under way as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pointed to emerging evidence that it was “among the safest things we can do”.
But it comes with considerable challenges and Education Minister Joe McHugh told the Dáil yesterday that it will take account of the need for social distancing and other public health restrictions.
With schools remaining shut this term and major decisions around the State exams out of the way, the focus now is on how to safely reopen the education system in the autumn.
Mr McHugh said the planning would continue over the summer months and would involve the education stakeholders and other experts and take on board lessons from other European countries.
He said he would be attending a remote meeting of European education minsters next Monday to discuss practices and to learn from their experiences.
The minister said it was “not just about social distancing in schools or numbers in classrooms or lecture theatres, but it is also around how we plan learning; how we staff our schools; how we utilise facilities within schools; how we transport pupils to and from schools; and how we protect those who might be vulnerable to the virus.”
Speaking at a separate event, Mr Varadkar referred to advice from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) and Dr Mike Ryan of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that “the emerging evidence is that among the safest things that we can do over the next couple of months is to reopen our schools, to reopen our childcare facilities to allow children return to education and return to normal life.”
The Taoiseach said it would have to be done safely but it was encouraging that there was growing evidence that children were at least risk from the virus and did not appear to be ‘super spreaders’.
Speaking in the Dáil, Fianna Fáil education spokesman Thomas Byrne said the Government needed to make the “clearest possible statement” on schools reopening after getting expert advice on the issue.
He referred to WHO guidelines on reopening schools “which aren’t maybe as restrictive
as we may have been worried about”.
Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin asked how it would be safe to open schools in September, when it was considered unsafe to hold the Leaving Cert from July 29, as had originally been planned.
Meanwhile, Mr McHugh came under pressure in the Dáil over the use of a school’s ‘profile of achievement’ in the calculation of grades for Leaving Cert candidates this year, with a sharp exchange on the issue between the minister and Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin.
A number of deputies claimed this was “school profiling” and would work to the advantage of high-achieving schools and against the interest of schools in disadvantaged communities.
In response, the minister said ‘school profiling’ would not be part of the process and branded arguments that disadvantaged students would lose out as a “disgrace”.
Mr Ó Ríordáin said: “Minister, with the greatest of respect, I can’t accept your answer on school profiling.”
He said Labour agreed with the use of calculated grades, but “we will not accept school profiling . . . because it is fundamentally unfair.”
He added: “I don’t agree with you when you say an average student from a fee-paying school would not be advantaged by the system.
“If I was an average student from a fee-paying school I’d be much happier today than I would if I was an exceptional student in a disadvantaged school because you will be assessed by the history of your school.”
Mr McHugh accused Mr Ó Ríordáin of “doing an awful disservice to disadvantaged schools” in his remarks.
“We have exceptional students in disadvantaged schools and you’re sending the message out today that they’re going to be disadvantaged because they’re in a disadvantaged school . . . I think that’s a disgrace.”
Mr Ó Ríordáin rejected this, and Mr McHugh continued: “I think it’s an absolute disgrace” while saying he didn’t want to get into a row.
Mr Ó Ríordáin said: “There’s no point in telling me you’re not going to get in a row with me and then point a finger at me and call me a disgrace.
“I’m calling your process a disgrace, not you.”
A Department of Education spokesperson later said that the process being used would “not impose any predetermined score on any individual, a class or a school”.