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IT IS NOT envisaged that “significant” personal protective equipment (PPE) will be required when schools reopen in September, Education Minister Joe McHugh has said.
The minister told the Dáil today that it is still the government’s intention to see a full return to school in late August and September.
Two weeks ago, McHugh said he wanted to see a “common sense approach” to social distancing guidelines when schools reopen.
He said primary school pupils will attend school for one day per week and secondary school pupils for two days per week if the two metres social distancing rule remains in place in September.
McHugh said engagement is happening daily in terms of drafting guidelines for schools.
He said there are still a few weeks to go before schools open the doors and engagement with stakeholders is ongoing.
“This gives us time to continue to consult with the public health experts to develop and plan appropriate guidance. It is my ambition and that of my officials to work with the education partners to minimise the work involved at an individual school level. Where we can we will provide centralised support and guidance to schools to enable them to reopen in a safe manner in the new school term,” he said
He said the knowledge and understanding of the virus is growing all the time.
The minister confirmed that additional resources will be provided to schools to enable enhanced cleaning.
However, the existing hand washing facilities in some schools are not designed for the enhanced level of hand washing envisaged necessary in the Covid-19 environment without significantly impacting on educational class time, said the minister.
The Department of Education will provide resources to schools to enable them purchase hand-sanitisers for use in the school and classroom.
“The procurement process for this framework is now underway and it will also deal with any other potential PPE requirements. It is not envisaged that significant PPE will be required in school settings. Details on funding will be provided in due course,” he said.
Blended learning for students is still on the cards, as of now.
“Notwithstanding our overall objective, planning for a blended learning approach (on-line and in-school) will be a feature of our planning to reopen schools as there may
be circumstances where schools will have to have the necessary agility to respond quickly to changed circumstances at local or regional level,” said McHugh.
Kept under review
In terms of physical distancing, the minister said the current guidelines are being kept under review.
He said the roadmap for reopening the country has been accelerated as the public health evolves, and this could be the case when it comes to schools.
“Consideration to other mitigating factors in a school setting and emerging evidence on low infection transmission by children may also mitigate some of the risks considered as part of broader public health advice.
“We also have to be cognisant that maintaining physical distancing in all situations is not possible or appropriate.
“In particular, it may not be practical for children who are quite young and some with special educational needs. In these situations, we need to ensure there are appropriate measures in place to protect children and school staff,” said McHugh.
The minister also outlined more details about the special July school provision for children.
For the summer provision being rolled out in July, “there will not be a requirement for strict social distancing for children with special needs as this would neither be practical or possible,” he said.
Prevention and control measures to manage risks will be in place, said McHugh.
Separately, McHugh said the traditional Leaving Certificate exam for those who chose not to opt in to the calculated grades system won’t go ahead until November at the earliest.
“I’d like the results of the calculated grades to be out as close to the traditional date in August but there’s no guarantee that will happen either.”
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“It is not envisaged that “significant”…..
Jaysis, straight from the Terry Prone school of talking without actually saying anything…
Listen up now McHugh…. the play grounds are heaving at the seams …. all contact sports are back Monday…. the country is basically open. Children have been scientifically proven not to be transmitting the virus. Who’s gonna tell my boss or my wife’s boss we won’t be to work cause McHugh is pandering to someone else ? Open up the fuking schools and get on with. A months time the country will be back to normal.
@John Hayes: children transmit the virus like everybody else .
@John Hayes: it will be fair from normal at least until a vaccine is got. There’s still a very high risk of secondary surge of infection occurring. Kids can carry and spread the infection without it having any affect on their own health. Many of the teachers may be in the vulnerable zone, is their health not important?
@Paddy Doherty: what about the parents that don’t vaccinate their kids? I doubt they will be allowing this vaccination either, whenever it is created.
@Rachael Baldwin: that’s a huge concern for me. Usually they piggy back on the other immunised kids (obviously I’m referring to those choosing not to vaccinate and not those who can not be vaccinated for medical reasons) the herd immunity won’t be there for the piggy backing this time. Wonder will schools make vaccine mandatory?? Is that possible? Also to the original poster the research from hiqa that your referencing was done using a small circle of kids and after schools closed. Children have no special immunity or limits on spreading the virus compared to anyone else l, the study (with the wrong sample size taken at the wrong time) even stated that but the media ran with what suited.
Despite what the minister says, schools are not being kept informed or consulted with regarding reopening. Our childs primary school principal has to send a notice out every time this man speaks to advise parents that they have received no guidance from the DOE, no clear pathway to reopening, and basically nothing of any substance that can help them in getting the kids back to school.
It really is ridiculous that so much time and energy has gone into reopening the pubs, golf clubs and hairdressers in the country, yet the educators of our children are being left in the dark along with parents.
And no one seems to have asked the question around this blended learning – how in the hell are two working parents going to manage this in any sort of productive manner?
This is bad way to approach the situation, it’s basically forcing a square peg into a round hole before you’ve even looked to see if you have any other pegs in the bag. This situation is very fluid, it changes almost daily and if by September masks may be appropriate, then so be it.
After the evidence we heard yesterday from the nurses it’s foolish to dismiss wearing PPE, regardless if you agree with their conclusions or not, the facts can’t be argued with. Describing this approach as ‘common sense’ is somewhat contradictory, it’s anything but sensible. It’s part of the same approach that helped spread covid by pretending there wasn’t a problem with PPE supplies, no reason for people to wear masks. As soon as they did, the rates of transmission dropped dramatically.
Joe McHugh has a degree in economics and sociology, and a higher diploma in education, he has no qualification in health or medicine.
@Arch Angel: I agree totally. Here’s a link to highly-repsected National Academy of Sciences paper in the US that concludes that the dominant mode of transmission is by airborne means:
“Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19″:
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/10/2009637117
It’s becoming unbearable to see the government burying the head in the sand and pretending we don’t need masks. The virus is in micro droplets that linger in the air , no two metres will keep us safe indoors , especially in poorly ventilated closed spaces. Because of the mess in their policy regarding masks there are now less people wearing them than in March and we are all risking our health every time we jump on a bus . Children back to school and no PPE for teachers and older kids is negligent and we will all pay for it .
Three months in and still unable to present some working concept. If 2m won’t work, you would need to consider 1m. That works with a pint for 105 minutes.
Except in prefab schools where PPE will be needed for the rodents and the winter cold.
Ah go on, make them wear full Chem suits.
MORE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS BEING PUSHED ONTO US BY THE CORPORATIONS. THEY WON’T STOP UNTIL THEY HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BANKRUPTED THE LATE LATE SHOW.
@Jim: The owl is in on the conspiracy, wake up sheeple!
@Jim: THE BIG BUSINESS LOBBY GROUPS WANT A CASHLESS SOCIETY, SO THEY HAVE ULTIMATE CONTROL AND SURVEILLANCE ON YOUR SPENDING.
What do you get when you cross a Muppet with a Politician?
Jayzuz, are there going to be teachers as well?
The author would want to go back to school. It would be wise to read the document issued 2 weeks ago before misquoting information in this article. It’s no wonder people are confused with the poor levels of reporting these days…..
We need protection from this corrupt corporate governance dictatorship
Schools should and must reopen in September , forget the PPE nonsense , haven’t there always been contagious illnesses in schools , why in heavens name should this be any different. Let children be children , how can they ever build up their immunity if they’re protected from everything .All children have a right to an education , it should be in the classroom and not online , technology is great in some ways but it’s not a replacement for reality and human interaction, hand and respiratory hygiene should be taught and observed , not just for health reasons but it’s good manners.
Parents and teachers have to stand up for the rights of children otherwise we’re going to have a generation of paranoid hypochondriacs , a lot of whom will become dysfunctional dropouts . What right minded parent, grandparent or teacher wants that for our children .
If we are going to have blended learning then the schools need to prepare. Online teaching isn’t new. My child had no teaching since March just homework. Pick up the slack guys and innovative like the rest of society.
March 2020:
Experts: *Of course* facemasks are effective. Why do you think they were invented?
Gov: But we don’t have any.
Experts: Not our problem.
Gov: Who’s paying you?
Experts: Facemasks are *not* effective.
Gov: Facemasks are *not* effective. (They can actually make things worse).
June 2020:
Gov: Facemasks arrived.
Experts: But you’ve already told public they’re not effective.
Gov: You know the drill.
Experts: Facemasks *are* effective.
Gov: Facemasks are effective and should be worn.
I am hoping that once we get to September, children will be able to go to school “as normal” and we will not need social distancing, etc. Might be wishful thinking but I am really hoping that all of the other sectors will have worked out the issues and schools will just be able to reopen without all of the hassles around how many days per week a child will be allowed to go to school. How will families manage childcare, etc?
Ad an aside, I have not had any cold, flu, chest infection etc in the past 3-4 months. Enjoying good health in lockdown!
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