Teachers have expressed rising anxiety about a return to class in the North next term, as Covid-19 numbers continue to soar across the region.
A further 17 deaths and 640 new cases of the virus were confirmed in the region on Saturday, with 427 patients currently hospitalised and 30 in intensive care.
Ulster Teachers’ Union general secretary Jacquie White has urged Northern Ireland’s education minister to reconsider allowing schools to reopen as planned in January.
Her comments come after Peter Weir confirmed on Friday that all schools would reopen in the first week of January “in the best interests of all pupils”.
He moved to clarify the situation after teachers and parents demanded answers amid uncertainty around how education will operate during an upcoming six-week lockdown.
Teachers are being told to keep calm and carry on
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Ms White said teachers understood that under normal circumstances school was the best place for children, but she said normal circumstances had ended since the onset of the pandemic.
“Despite the fact that virtually every aspect of life is to change during this latest lockdown, teachers are being told to keep calm and carry on,” she said.
“While the vast majority of the population is in lockdown our members are being told they must return to class as usual in January, despite the fact that swathes of schoolchildren and their teachers have been sent home to isolate at various times since September due to the ravages of this virus through the school population.
“Of course we understand that children need to be in school but employers also owe a duty of care to teachers and this must be balanced. It is imperative that decisions regarding the way forward are based on robust health advice.”
Overwhelmed
Ms White said other regions were considering staggered returns to school next month.
“We would seek the advice of the chief medical officer as to why the approach chosen here in Northern Ireland is different and whether it is in the best interests of our children and education staff,” she said.
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) northern secretary also called on the Education Minister to reconsider his “rash decision” to allow schools reopen as planned.
On Friday, Gerry Murphy said instead of reopening schools, the minister should take account of the rapidly rising R number and consider where “it sits in light of the broader strategy already agreed by the NI Executive”.
It comes as ambulance crews from the Republic have arrived in the North to aid its overwhelmed health service.
The chief of the HSE shared a photo of a vehicle from the Irish National Ambulance Service parked alongside one from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, as paramedics head to Belfast, Craigavon and Lisburn.
On Tuesday, queues of ambulances were witnessed at accident and emergency departments across Northern Ireland as patients were treated in car parks due to a lack of capacity inside the hospitals.
The region's political leaders have clashed amid a blame game over its spiralling Covid-19 infection rates.
The clashes came a day after the Executive unanimously agreed to impose a sweeping six-week lockdown which will come into force on St Stephen's Day.
The first week of those measures will see the toughest lockdown yet in Northern Ireland, with a form of curfew in operation from 8pm, shops closed from that time and all indoor and outdoor gatherings prohibited until 6am.
