Nursery World - Government urged to do more to protect schools from Covid-19

Teaching unions have criticised the Government for failing to put more safety measures in place to protect children and school staff from Covid, following the move by the Prime Minister to implement ‘Plan B’ in the fight against the virus.

Teaching unions are calling on the Government to put more protections in place for children and staff working in schools where Covid-19 cases are continuing to rise PHOTO Adobe Stock

Unison, GMB, Unite and NASUWT have joined forces to call on the Government to better protect children, teachers and support staff from Covid in schools in the lead up to Christmas.

With increased uncertainty due to growing cases of the Omicron variant and rising classroom absences because of coronavirus, the four unions are urging the Government to act ‘without delay’ to minimise disruption by introducing additional safety measures.

The teaching unions want ministers to provide schools with air filtration devices for use wherever airflow problems are detected and to make face masks mandatory in all areas of secondary schools.

They also want staff who need to isolate due to Covid to receive full pay and are calling for extra resources for schools to contact pupils and families who have been in close contact with a positive case, as NHS Track and Trace no longer does this routinely in schools.

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