Ireland/ 04 January, 2022/ Source/ https://worldrepublicnews.com/

By Vivienne Clarke

As schools statewide are set to open, the National Association of Parents of Schools of Education and Training Council has called for a phased reopening amid record daily cases of Covid.

The association, which represents more than 47% of post-primary schools, wrote to the education minister following Nphet’s predictions that the Omicron wave is not expected to peak until mid-January.

“A cautious approach to reopening schools is necessary to ensure the well-being of all,” the association said in a statement.

“Our proposal is a phased reopening of schools, with schools reopening on Monday 10 for Leaving Cert and Junior Cert students only.

“Then according to the number of daily cases, to slowly open the other classes over the next two weeks.

“This would allow parents, schools and teachers to cope with the expected wave and level of disease in the community in a more manageable way.”

Education Minister Norma Foley is due to meet with teacher unions, parent groups and boards of directors on Tuesday.

As stated in the Irish ExaminerAlthough there are concerns about the high infection rate of the Omicron variant, the government’s urgency to keep schools closed does not occur as it did at the same time last year.

“The schools will reopen. I don’t know of any country in Europe that plans to keep them closed, and we’re all pretty much in the same boat, ”said a senior minister.

“The likely rhetoric is one of disruption, not closure at the moment, but there is a feeling the government needs to do more to assure parents and teachers that classrooms are safe,” a source said.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan will meet after the country has witnessed a record number of daily cases over the past week, driven by the Omicron variant. .

Impact on children

Government child welfare rapporteur Conor O’Mahony, professor of law at University College Cork, said Ireland has experienced school closures “long enough” by international standards, children who missed between 90 and 110 days of school due to closures.

“The impact on children is not limited to missing a few weeks of class and having to catch up later,” said Professor O’Mahony.

“There are multiple impacts on children that we have seen documented in Ireland and abroad from school closures including on their mental health including on their social skills, overall development, opportunities Recreation.

“And then, in some of the most extreme cases, we see significant issues with children at risk, who find themselves forced to spend long periods in unsafe family environments, exposed to abuse, neglect and violence. domesticated.”

Professor O’Mahoney was concerned that references to child protection would dry up due to school closures, as teachers are a key source of information for social services, which would compromise the capacity of social workers .

We should make sure that we have exhausted all other possibilities in terms of the different types of safeguards and mitigations that can be put in place in schools before considering the option of school closures.

“The trend in Ireland reflects very well the trend observed internationally that when schools were closed you saw a significant drop in the number of referrals,” explained Professor O’Mahony.

“In particular the category of so-called mandatory referrals which would be referrals made by journalists who were legally obliged to refer, which would include teachers.”

“We don’t want to put children’s health at risk if we can avoid it, but the problem here is that school closures should be the very last resort rather than seeing school closings as something that we should do this before investing in other mitigation measures. measures in schools, ”said Professor O’Mahony.

“The other key point that emerges is that all of these negative impacts that I have mentioned disproportionately affect children from disadvantaged and marginalized communities,” he added.

“This is a very important point to make.

“While some people may look at the situation and think that children in their families or communities will be fine if schools are to close by January, the thing to remember is that this is not the case universally for all children. “

-Additional report by Vivienne Clarke

Source

https://worldrepublicnews.com/parents-call-for-phased-reopening-of-schools-amid-omicron-wave/