LORD McConnell has welcomed the announcement of plans to bring pupils back to school full-time in August.
On Tuesday, Education Secretary John Swinney told MSPs that Covid-19 had been suppressed to the point where schools could be able to welcome back children without the need for social distancing after the summer break.
Initially, the Scottish Government announced plans to bring schools back on August 11 as part of a “blended model” of learning, with pupils spending part of their time in the classroom and supplementing their learning from home.
The former first minister campaigned for a full-time return to school to allow parents to get back to work and to mitigate the interruption to schooling.
He said: “A big congratulations to all the parents who campaigned publicly and all the teachers who made their views clear privately that this was the right thing to do.
“I think there will be a huge sigh of relief across the country. This will allow pupils to get back on track and parents to get back to work.”
READ MORE: John Swinney tells MSPs schools should reopen full time in August
With seven weeks left before the return of pupils on August 11, Lord McConnell said it will be a “challenge for everybody” to finalise planning for the new term.
He added: [The announcement] is probably happening later than would have been right but we were able to move Heaven and Earth to save the health service and to save jobs so this can be achieved for education by August.
“The most important thing was to change the policy and the policy has been changed. I am delighted for all the parents that wanted to see this happen.”
The former teacher said he thought the Scottish Government was wrong to attempt to move to the blended model.
READ MORE: Tories are fuming about the Scottish Government's school announcement
Lord McConnell added: “I think it would be wrong to go back over that at this stage.
“I was completely focused for the last three weeks on changing the policy and now the policy has been changed all the efforts have to go into making sure that we get the schools reopened in August and making sure that parents are able to get back to work.”
Swinney also announced a further £100 million investment in schools to help them recover from the effects of the pandemic, with some of the funding being earmarked for recruitment.
Lord McConnell said he felt that there will need to be more cash dedicated to mitigating the effects of Covid-19.
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