SCHOOL’S OUT ‘UNTIL FEBRUARY’

Ministers do not expect schools to open as planned on Monday ++ 6,110 new cases of Covid ++ Britain plunges into third lockdown

SCHOOLS are certain to remain shut next Monday and are likely to stay closed until February, senior Government sources told the Irish Daily Mail last night.

It follows 24 hours of political confusion, with ministers giving conflicting messages about whether schools would adhere to their already delayed reopening date of January 11. Officially, the Government has said that it will make a decision on the reopening of schools tomorrow.

But a number of Cabinet sources and officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the Mail last night that schools are expected to remain shut on January 11. It comes as the total of daily new coronavirus cases in Ireland exceeded 6,000 for the first time last night with 6,110 new cases and six deaths.

‘We’ve not had any official advice on this from NPHET yet but the belief in Government, after speaking to our public health doctors, is they will advise us to keep the schools shut,’ said a minister last night.

‘And my expectation, after discussions with colleagues, is that schools will remain shut for the duration of the month of

January,’ added the Minister.

‘With parents sitting at home looking at TV and seeing Nicola Sturgeon closing schools in Scotland until February, and Boris Johnson closing schools , they will hardly be keen on sending their children back to schools.’

There is not a clear line emerging from Government yet on other childcare f acilities but t hey are expecting ‘drastic advice’ from NPHET.

‘There will be an effort to keep educational facilities open for special needs students and disadvantaged students and we are trying to work that out,’ said a senior Government source.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan warned that the current numbers are ‘unsustainable’.

‘We are concerned about the implications for the ongoing provision of education in this country. There are decisions to be taken by the Government,’ he said.

Dr Holohan said that while age-specific incidence of the virus in school-going children is still below the average in the population, ‘it is increasing at a very very fast rate’.

‘High levels of transmission represent a risk to all activities. We tried as a country, and very successfully managed to do it, to protect the provision of ongoing core public service priorities around childcare, around education, and around the provision of health services for people who need them for reasons other than Covid while protecting public health.

‘But you can see the situation we’re in now in terms of wide

‘Extremely high rates of transmission’

spread transmission and extremely high rates of transmission that those high rates now represent a risk to all of those objectives.’

Teachers, Opposition TDs and health experts have said the writing is on the wall for further school closures, with 7,000 Covid cases a day forecast for the next week.

Last night, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told Taoiseach Micheál Martin that trying to reopen schools next Monday was ‘not realistic’.

In a tweet, Ms McDonald said she spoke with the Taoiseach yesterday, saying there was ‘growing concern’ about a safe return to schools and childcare.

School holidays have already been extended to January 11, to allow families to minimise their social contacts before children return to their classes, in the face of rising Covid numbers and a more infectious strain of the virus.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland, which represents 19,000 secondary school teachers, is recommending that the closure period be extended to January 18 at a minimum.

TUI general secretary Michael Gillespie said: ‘Logically, the date for re-opening should be January 18 at a minimum as this will allow f or the 14- day period that is required to determine whether or not implementation of the Level 5 measures has been effective.

‘To reopen too early is recklessly to tempt fate.’

The Irish Primary Principals Network has also said that schools should return to remote learning on January 11 for a week or possibly two weeks, until an impact on Covid-19 numbers can be seen from Level 5 restrictions.

The primary school teachers’ union INTO said last night that many teachers and parents have serious concerns about schools reopening while community transmission of the virus is rampant.

A spokesman said teachers were not yet voting with their feet, but were keen to hold constructive meetings with the Government and public health experts.

He said the INTO was also keeping a close eye on events in neighbouring countries.

In Scotland, schools have been shut until February at the earliest, while UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced last night that all schools and colleges will close, with remote learning until February half term. In a televised address last night, the prime minister also told his country to stay indoors other than for limited exceptions, with measures expected to last until mid-February.

The INTO has demanded that plans for temporary remote learning be put in place given the many teachers expected to be absent after either contracting the virus or being forced to self-isolate.

The union also reiterated its demand that school workers be given higher priority for vaccines.

Sinn Féin education spokesman Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said that the ‘writing is all but on the wall’ and that, ‘much as I regret it, I don’t expect the schools will open as normal on the 11th’. He added that Education Minister Norma

Foley needed to explain what was going to happen next. ‘We want to see children back to school, when it is safe and sustainable to do so, but the Minister hasn’t demonstrated how she will deliver that.’

Last night it was revealed that Ms Foley will attend the Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 today where Dr Holohan will give his advice to Government. It is understood the Minister ‘wants’ to keep the schools open but is concerned about the growing challenge posed by the virus.

Meanwhile, there were a number of senior Government sources last night lamenting its own communications performance on schools.

‘I heard a lot of conflicting opinions and differing information emerging from our people on air yesterday and it was very unhelpful for the public,’ a senior source told the Mail, ‘we need to give people certainty on schools. Quickly.’

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: ‘We have to allow the experts the time they need to examine the latest evidence… However, I think it is reasonable to assume that Government on Wednesday morning will make a decision on this.’

Mr Donnelly told RTÉ that as a father of three young children, he understood that parents, teachers and principals wanted clarity.

‘These are big calls that have a major impact on people’s lives as we know from the first lockdown and make a big impact on the children, particularly those f rom lower-income areas.’

‘We need to give people certainty’