Taxpayers face extra €24m bill for hand sanitisers in schools for just one term
THE bill for cleaning and provision of hand sanitisers in schools to prevent the spread of Covid-19 would run to a massive €24m for the period between September and Christmas.
It is only one of the additional costs facing the State as work continues on how to reopen schools safely against the backdrop of an ongoing public health threat.
Education Minister Joe McHugh revealed the €24m figure as he also pointed to the potential need for more teachers when schools return, to a new way of doing things.
He said that while it was his “ambition to have as many students as possible together back in class”, with the two-metre social distancing rule it was “very difficult to see all students back in September”.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan told the Cabinet this week that public health advice on social distancing remained in place for now, but was under constant review.
A relaxation of the two-metre rule would ease the situation, and Mr McHugh is hoping that will happen before the Department of Education provides its reopening guidance to schools, which, he said, would be issued within two weeks.
In an interview with RTÉ’s
Sarah McInerney, Mr McHugh also said they were analysing the need for extra teachers in anticipation of pupils potentially returning to a blended learning scenario, involving a mix of face-to-face and distance teaching.
Speaking on ‘Prime Time’ last night, Mr McHugh went further and said he had not given up on children returning fully to school. “I am not accepting that the two-metre regime will be in place in September,” he said.
When schools reopen, they face the dual challenge of social distancing and ensuring that hygiene standards are maintained at a level that prevents, or minimises the risk of, transmission of the virus.
Mr McHugh responded to a question about a call for more funding support for thirdlevel with the figure of €24m for cleaning and hand sanitisers in schools, for one term, as an example of the costs coming down the track.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education has strengthened advice to teachers and schools about how they mark and rank Leaving Cert candidates in the calculated grades process.
Additional guidance, issued yesterday, covered avoidance of unconscious bias, interpreting evidence of achievement in the case of students with disabilities and bonus marks that would have applied for answering written exams through Irish.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) wrote to Mr McHugh this week strongly recommending specific guidance to teachers and schools on “mitigating the risk of inadvertent discrimination stemming from unconscious bias”.
IHREC acting chief commissioner Dr Frank Conaty also said: “All teachers involved should, as best practice, complete online training on unconscious bias.”
The focus of IHREC concerns are high-achieving students in schools in disadvantaged communities, amid fears the process will not treat them as favourably as high-attaining students from more advantaged backgrounds.
The new guidance includes advice to teachers to avoid the tendency to see a “halo glow” around certain students because of one positive thing about them.