SHOULD THERE BE A PRE-CHRISTMAS CIRCUIT BREAKER FOR SCHOOLS?

A teaching union has called for a ‘circuit-breaker’ to be introduced for all schools across Northern Ireland before Christmas.

The call for early closures comes as the world is reacting to the recent emergence of the new variant of Coronavirus named Omicron.

NASUWT National Officer for Northern Ireland, Justin McCamphill, has declared that schools should be closed on or before the 15 December to combat the spread of virus and tackle the immense pressure that teaching staff are currently under.

Mr McCamphill explained that some schools had already sent classes home and expects that to only build as we get closer to Christmas.

In the past four weeks over 1,000 teaching staff across Northern Ireland have contracted Coronavirus within the school environment.

Mr McCamphill says that, “We are finding principals telling us they simply cannot get substitute teachers to cover absences. We have got to a situation where it is now spiralling out of control as there are not enough staff.”

Education Minister - Michelle McIlveen

The teaching union has also called for the Education Minister to ‘use the powers that she has to direct what she wants to happen to schools’.

In recent days the Department of Education has released a statement on this issue and have said there are currently no plans to close schools prior to the planned closures for the Christmas break.

The executive is currently focussing on the booster campaign and reinforcing the simple measures such as wearing masks, social distancing and constant hand-washing, but as we already have witnessed a u-turn is not totally off the cards.