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LAST UPDATE | 1 Dec 2021
YESTERDAY EVENING, AT 5.15pm, primary schools around the country received updated guidance from the Department of Education on the wearing of face coverings in primary schools.
This guidance was followed up by a letter to parents/guardians from Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer explaining the updated public health advice. Children from third class upwards are recommended to wear face coverings now in schools.
It seems that there is considerable concern around the incidence rate of Covid-19 in the 5-11-year-old age group. These kids are generally our primary school students. At our rural school, in the last three weeks we have seen our very first school related case since all of this began, followed swiftly by a number of cases in that pod and classroom.
How we got here
Although guidance on face coverings for primary school children was only just released yesterday, the discussions around such protocols have been ongoing amongst staff members, parents, guardians and on social media for weeks.
It is hard to argue with the need for some intervention in schools. It is well documented that schools are facing huge challenges in relation to case numbers and staffing. This is a crisis. Parents are faced with keeping children at home for days at a time as PCR tests are like gold dust.
The wearing of face masks by primary school children from third class up is the latest intervention aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19. I don’t think that many school staff would question that something needs to be done to stop the spread. We need competent measures and guidelines.
I think that the recommendation that face coverings are worn by children in certain scenarios comes from a scientific place based on data and expertise and I trust that it will have some effect on the spread. I also think that consideration must be given to the children in all of this.
School refusal
If we spend too long looking at the data we can forget that these numbers represent children and staff members in our schools.
The latest guidance states that if a medical certificate is not provided to the school stating that a child does not fall into a certain category which would preclude them from wearing face coverings, then that child will be refused entry to the school.
No teacher in the country wants to refuse a child entry to a school. Psychologists working for the National Educational Psychological Service will have been inundated with concerns from principals this year around school refusal. School refusal is at an all-time high. Now is not a time to be refusing children entry to schools.
There are a number of interventions that could have been considered alongside a recommendation of wearing face coverings (without making it compulsory). Testing and tracing of close contacts in primary schools needs to resume. The introduction of antigen testing is a welcome measure but it is inadequate.
Current guidelines mean that if there is a case of Covid-19 in a classroom, nobody in that classroom is asked to isolate. Nobody is referred to contact tracing and testing. Parents can decide not to administer antigen tests and send their kids into school anyway.
‘Schools are safe’
Around the country parents are starting to recognise that schools are not the safe places they are being labelled and they are taking action. Kids are being kept home, regardless of guidelines, in an effort to keep everybody safe. In our school we have had two cases this week where children returned negative antigen test results followed by positive PCR results.
By introducing the wearing of face coverings for children we have changed the narrative. Measures seem to be in place to stop children from spreading the virus rather than to protect them from it. Children have enough on their young shoulders at the moment without loading them with this.
More consultation with the relevant parties is needed before drastic actions like this are introduced. Principals around the country are working around the clock contact tracing, emailing parents, sorting staffing issues, teaching and dealing with a million other things that I haven’t mentioned.
To send new guidelines at 5.15 pm on a Tuesday evening and expect them to be implemented on a Wednesday morning is not reasonable. This short time frame is not adequate for school staff to discuss all of the possible permutations.
What if a child wants to wear a face covering but their parent doesn’t allow it? What if one parent insists on the face covering but another is against the measure? What if the masks we have in school are too big for our junior infants? What about the child who struggles with hearing and relies on lip reading? Do we need a Speech and Language therapist to assess the long term issues this could cause? What about the child who is ostracised by his/her peers because they can’t wear a mask?
Rumblings of these measures have been going on for weeks. In that time, school principals were not consulted once. We want to do what is best for the children. We want to keep everyone safe. We understand that measures have to be implemented.
We want more thought to be put into these guidelines and for the children to be at the centre of any decision making when it comes to guidelines.
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Nobody cares
@Aoife Kally Bolamba: Have you asked everybody?
@Aoife Kally Bolamba: well you cared enough to go through a comment section and read an article
@Colm Phillips: sounds like u care for her Colin :)
@Aoife Kally Bolamba: His name is clearly Colm
Londonders have suffered a lot from terrorist attacks over the last 15 years, people ran over by cars on bridges, people randomly butchered in the street, Bus Bombings, Tube Bombings…
Why does this filth think the good people there would want her back on their streets?
@David Lee: Imagine referring to anyone as ‘filth’ and thinking you’ve got the moral high ground. She was a child when she made a very bad choice. I’m not saying roll out the red carpet, but calling this person “filth” while everyone in London is “good people” reveals a lot about you.
@David Lee: How many people did the British kill when the illegally invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Dropped bombs on Syria and Libia etc. How many of the terrorist attacks on Britain took place before they decided to destabilise the middle East? None. Perhaps if the British didn’t kill thousand of innocent civilians across the middle east there might not be attacks like there was in the UK.
@JusticeForJoe: Go & ask some random people in London if they want her back on their streets & see what they’ll tell you, you’ll hear a lot worse than filth.
Also, would you take her into your neighbourhood or home if she’s so deserving and feel safe around her
@David Lee: Did she have anything to do with any of the attacks on London. If was to go to London 99.9% of the population if London wouldn’t have a clue who she is or where she went.
@David Lee: Imagine thinking a random racist Londoner’s bigoted and hateful opinion means anything. You may accuse her of the same thing, but at least she had the excuse of being an actual child.
I don’t own my “neighbourhood” but I would never object to anyone moving into it and it’s not up to me (or my neighbours) to decide what she deserves. Rotten mob mentality doesn’t equate to righteousness in any way.
@Roy Dowling: very valid points
.
@JusticeForJoe: defending somebody who joined isis tells us a lot about you. Some people are bad people. The word is appropriate. That said I wouldn’t remove her passport because I don’t want governments to have that power.
@Roy Dowling: what’s that gotta do with this woman joining isis. When she joined isis in Syria she joined a rebel faction opposed to Assad, in other words she was on the side of British/US imperialism who also wanted him gone. As I recall so did most of the commentators on here at the time. It’s possible however to oppose both isis and US/U.K. involvement in the Middle East.
@David Lee: she was 15 when she did what she did. I don’t condone what she did but calling her “filth” says a lot more about you than her.
@john smith iv: Oh yeah? What does it tell you about me, John?
@JusticeForJoe: Why should we or the Brits allow people to come back and pretend nothing has happened. She may have only been 15, so what accountability do the parents have. Who is to say that her loyalties are not still with her mates. Because she says so?? They have committed atrocities beyond imagination and expect us to put their human rights before the rights and security of the masses.
@Barrycelona: Who said anything about “pretend nothing has happened”?? I think she should maybe serve some prison time in the UK. I realise there are lots of people who like to shout “you’re not welcome in my country” at other people. Personally, I’d like a lot of THOSE people removed from MY country, but I don’t go around shouting it at them.
Believe her or not, she is state less and needs to go home. Personally I dont believe a word out of her, but she needs a country to live in and the Brits need to take her back.
@Jonathan O’Riordan: brilliant
@Valentine Kane: legally speaking Bangladesh needs to take her in. Britain did not leave her state-less, so there’s no legal foundation for the re-instatement of British citizenship.
@PJ Beatty: why would Bangladeshis would take her in theire country she was apparently born in london and she was as British as any others so is up to British government to decide.
Commissions are needed to examine the teachings and behaviour of the various groups active in Europe to determine if they are indoctrinating people with divisive doctrines masquerading as religions.
@Tom Molloy: Ah leave the Legion of Mary alone, will ya.
@Francis Devenney: brilliant!
We were all indoctrinated at school.
@Francis Devenney: Being asked to say a few prayers and visit the sick is the least of worries for non sectarian people.
@Tom Molloy: Anyone who teaches children that they have the only true way and all others will burn in hell for all eternity are by definition ” indoctrinating people with divisive doctrines masquerading as religions”.
@Shedonny: I barely got a religious message at school. And that was 20 years ago.
@Francis Devenney: The colourful language used to describe invisible attributes good and bad are dated I admit. Painters depicting literature have been a disastrous influence.
@Tom Molloy: Not so much about the language or the images. It’s that the core belief of all monotheistic religions is “We have the one true God,” If that’s not divisive I don’t know what is. In fact the pharaoh Akenaton who invented monotheism caused such hardship with his new religion that when he died his name was struck from all the stele and pillars. “We are right and everybody else is (at best) wrong or (at worst) damned” is inherently divisive, It’s baked into fabric of it.
@Francis Devenney: I agree with you. If it could be kept to “There is a God”. it would be best.
Booooo whoooooo
She joined ISIS, awful. But she was raised and born in Britain. Her citizenship shouldn’t have been revoked. She should be in jail
@Аня Владимировна:
Shamima Begum is a citizen of Bangladesh
@Frank Jasper: no she isn’t. She wasn’t born or raised there.
@Аня Владимировна:
Only when she has been tried and found guilty.
Contrast with Ireland’s treatment if Lisa Smith. She will get a fair trial, her citizenship was not revoked and will not be even if she is found guilty.
Guess which is the civilised state.
@Shedonny: my understanding of international law is that its illegal to strip a person of citizenship unless they already hold dual citizenship. You cannot make a person stateless.
Good show on Netflix called Caliphate. Based in Denmark and shows how easy it was for ISIS to brainwash vulnerable teenagers to join them. Really quite shocking how easy it is.
A 15 year old is not mature enough to make a life changing decision such as her one.
@Over the top: The fact that she felt the need to say she does not hate Britain shows/demonstrates an awareness that hate is floating around in belief systems.
Generation Accept No Personal Responsibility
Britain need to take her back. The SDF and the NES administration can’t afford to keep IS members in Al Hol, Al Roj and other facilities. I’ve been to both these camps in the past few years and they’re pretty scary and are breeding grounds for extremists much like Abu Ghraib in Iraq was before them. Every few months there are attempted mass breakouts and should one be successful we’ve got a problem. SDF have even resorted to freeing militants if they pay 8-20 grand. History will definitely repeat itself if SDF don’t get international help with this situation
She’d say anything at this stage ..
have your say