COVID-19 RESULTS GOOD ON SCHOOLS OPENING

Education ministers of 22 EU countries told:

REOPENING schools in Europe has not led to any ‘significant’ spike in Covid-19 cases.

Evidence from 22 EU states that have restored classes suggests little risk to pupils, teachers or families. The findings will pile pressure on the Government here which does not plan to have children back before September. Teacher unions are equally

opposed to an earlier return date.

Primary schools have reopened in France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and the Netherlands recently. Schools in Estonia, Iceland and Sweden remained open throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yesterday an EU meeting was told the gradual return to school had not resulted in ‘anything negative’. Denmark reopened primaries and nurseries a month ago and has seen infection rates continue to fall. Norway, which is outside the EU, has taken similar action without a rise.

Around 1.4million French pupils went back to class last week and of around 40,000 schools and nurseries only 70 were closed again following virus cases. French education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told Frensaid yesterday that the return has put some children in new danger of infection. Addressing concerns, he said the affected schools are being closed immediately.

Germany has reopened schools for older children and plans to allow younger year groups back later in the summer term.

Following a video-conferencing meeting, EU education ministers said they were hugely encouraged by the post-lockdown results.

Blazenka Divjak, education minister of Croatia, which holds the rotating EU presidency, told European colleagues that the results were extremely encouraging.

She said: ‘What has been emphasised very strongly is that these schools have very high security conditions.’

These included ‘smaller classes than normal’ and ‘very close cooperation with health ministries and epidemiological services’.

Of the 22 EU countries including France, 17 have only allowed children to return to nursery and primary schools, and final years of secondary level, as part of a tentative lifting of the lockdown imposed to tackle the pandemic.

The Children’s Council here has backed calls for pupils to go back to school, saying some children have a right to an education. Tanya Ward, chair of the National Children’s Advisory Council, said at the weekend: ‘We need to ask ourselves if six months off from school appropriately balances the absolute right of children to access education.

‘A fresh look at the Government roadmap needs to get the balance right.’

Last night, Sinn Féin’s education spokesman Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said: ‘The objective does need to be to try and return to school as soon as possible but we need to be sure that it is safe and we need to be sure that it is educationally sound.’ He added he would like to see a roadmap on how all the different levels of education in this country are going to be reopened.

Fianna Fáil education spokesman Thomas Byrne echoed Ms Ward’s message.

Labour Party education spokesman Aodhán Ó Ríordáin warned it might be

‘Smaller classes than normal’

‘Highest teacherpupil ratio rates’

more difficult to reopen schools in Ireland given ‘we have some of the highest rates of teach-pupil ratios in the EU’ and that might have adverse implications.

At the early stage of the pandemic there were fears that children were vectors in transmitting the disease, but Health Information and Quality Authority findings show there is nothing to indicate children transmit the virus at a substantially higher level compared to other age categories.