Pupils told to stay at home until February
‘Uncertainty’ over spread of mutant strain forces closure of all schools
SCOTLAND’S schools and nurseries will remain closed until February amid ‘significant’ uncertainty about how a mutant new Covid-19 strain affects children.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday announced pupils will not return to the classroom on January 18 as planned, with the opening date pushed back by at least a fortnight.
Initially, youngsters had been due to go back to school this week after the Christmas holidays. But this was extended, with online learning set to commence from January 11, followed by a full return to the classroom the following week.
The First Minister said she had been forced to scrap this plan because of a surge in Covid-19 cases, with remote learning to stay in place until February 1.
The rise in positive coronavirus tests includes cases of a new, highly transmissible strain, which experts fear could spread easily among youngsters.
While the decision was welcomed by union chiefs last night, concerns have been
‘We have to adopt a cautious approach’
raised over how prepared schools are for the move and the impact it will have on children, particularly those from lowincome households.
Speaking at Holyrood, Miss Sturgeon told MSPs: ‘We need to get transmission down before schools can safely reopen. A period of online learning will also, in turn, help us do that.’
She warned of ‘significant uncertainty about the impact of the new variant on transmission among young people’, and added: ‘ We therefore have to adopt a cautious approach.
‘Just as the last places we ever want to close are schools and nurseries – so it is the case that schools and nurseries will be the first places we want to reopen as we re-emerge from this latest lockdown. They remain our priority.’
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives at Holyrood, raised concerns about the impact on families.
She said: ‘ After this announcement, parents are having to rip up childcare plans, negotiate with their employers and, most significantly, they are worried about their children’s fractured education.
‘SNP complacency over support and learning will not only cost pupils the next few weeks of schooling, it will potentially hinder their future progress and cause the attainment gap between richer and poorer pupils to stretch even wider. The Government has had months to prepare for this possibility and instead, schools are facing a return almost to square one and without the necessary guidance and resources they need to provide equal access to highquality education.’
Miss Sturgeon hinted that the return of pupils to the classroom could be staggered.
She said: ‘The fortnightly review will not simply be a choice between opening and closing schools. We will always seek to maximise the number of pupils we can safety get back to classrooms and nurseries.
‘So if the evidence tells us we can get some pupils back safely, that is what we will do.’
Jo Bisset, of campaign group UsForThem Scotland, claimed parents had been ‘dreading’ the announcement, which could see classrooms ‘shut indefinitely’.
She said: ‘Now that the schools will be closed until February, no one believes they will be properly open again this academic year.
‘ For children, that means a second-class education system if they’re lucky, and complete isolation from their social groups. This is time they cannot get back.
‘Only time will tell the full extent of the impact of this decision, but there’s no question that the damage being done to the lives of young people is significant.’
But Miss Sturgeon told MSPs that teachers could be given priority access to the Covid jab.
She said ministers were considering whether they could be added to the list of the ‘most vulnerable’ in society under the UK-wide recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
Larry Flanagan of the EIS teaching union said: ‘Given that social distancing among pupils is physically impossible in crowded classrooms, moving to remote learning is the correct decision, therefore, if we are to successfully drive down community infection levels. Suppressing the virus is key to school buildings safely reopening.’
School closures were first announced on March 18 in Scotland and they did not reopen until August 11. At the time, serious concerns were raised over lack of materials and access to online learning for children.
Yesterday, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: ‘The issue here is not just whether schools and school buildings are open or not. It is how much preparation has been made by the Government for the continuation of our children’s education.
‘It’s about whether the remote learning materials which were promised back in July are ready now, six months later.
‘It is about whether teachers have the support they need, whether plans are in place and whether they have the resources they require to back it up.’