Scotland’s schools are to remain closed until next month at the earliest, with the government saying there's ”significant uncertainty about the impact of the new variant on transmission amongst young people.”
In an emergency session of the Scottish Parliament, the First Minister said the majority of pupils would now not be due back in the classroom until February 1. Instead, lessons will be delivered remotely.
The change includes nursery schools, as well as primary and secondary schools. It will apply to all pupils – except vulnerable children, and children of key workers.
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“There is no doubt that of all the difficult decisions we have had to take today, this was the most difficult of all,” Sturgeon said.
The First Minister said the government were also looking to see if they could "achieve vaccination of school and childcare staff as a priority."
She told MSPs: “The evidence to date makes clear that thanks to the hard work of school staff and pupils, schools in Scotland have been low-risk environments for Covid. We will work with our partners to ensure that remains the case.
“That will include ongoing work on testing in schools and discussions about when, in the context of the overall programme, it will be possible to vaccinate school staff.
“And I want to be clear that it remains our priority to get school buildings open again for all pupils as quickly as possible and then keep them open.”
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The First Minister said the overall level of community transmission was too high.
“We need to get transmission down before schools can safely reopen. A period of online learning will also, in turn, help us do that,” she said.
Sturgeon said the Government were also concerned by the ”significant uncertainty about the impact of the new variant on transmission amongst young people.”
She said: “We therefore have to adopt a cautious approach. So most pupils will be learning online for at least the rest of the month. We will review on 18 January whether they can – as we hope – return to school on February 1.”
The First Minister told MSPs: “Just as the last places we ever want to close are schools and nurseries – so it is the case that schools and nurseries will be the first places we want to reopen as we re-emerge from this latest lockdown.
“They remain our priority.
“That is why we are considering whether and to what extent - consistent with our overall duty to vaccinate the most vulnerable first in line with JCVI recommendations - we can achieve vaccination of school and childcare staff as a priority. Many teachers will of course be vaccinated over coming weeks as part of the JCVI priority list.
“The fortnightly review will not simply be a choice between opening and closing schools - we will always seek to maximise the number of pupils we can safely get back to classrooms and nurseries.
“So if the evidence tells us we can get some pupils back safely, that is what we will do.
“However ultimately, the best way of enabling more pupils to return more quickly is by reducing community transmission of the virus as much as possible.“
Asked by Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie about the potential for teachers to be vaccinated before the Scottish Government reviews its school closure policy, she added: "(Vaccinating) teachers and school staff would allow us to give that greater assurance to teachers in the determination to get schools open.
"But we have very clear expert clinical advice about the need to prioritise those who are clinically most at risk of getting ill and dying from this virus and ethically we have a duty to make sure that we use the supplies we have to do that first.
"Many teachers will be in these groups - teachers over 50 or teachers under 50 who have other health conditions - but beyond that, we want to get teachers and school staff generally vaccinated as quickly as possible, but we must make sure we are following the advice about those clinically most in need.
"We will be discussing internally in government with our advisers and with teaching unions and local authorities how we can accelerate that whole process because we understand the central importance of that."
Jane Peckham, from the NASUWT teaching union in Scotland, said: "We welcome the First Minister's commitment to look at prioritising school staff for vaccination.
"The NASUWT believes that vaccination of teachers and other staff must be introduced as a central pillar of ensuring the safe operation of schools during the pandemic.
"Prioritising the vaccination of school staff will support the shared aim of restoring in-person teaching for pupils as soon as this can safely be achieved."
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