Teachers must be allowed to use app say Greens

Scottish Greens education spokesperson Ross Greer MSP has called on education secretary John Swinney to intervene after it emerged teachers were being instructed to disable or remove the contacting tracing app from their phones.

Mr Greer raised the concerns after it emerged that Aberdeen City Council’s chief education officer had instructed school staff to “disable or remove the app while working in school”.

Ross Greer MSP said:

“School staff are being put at risk every day. Extremely vulnerable teachers are being bullied back into classroom against the advice of their GPs and now we learn that council officials are instructing teachers to turn the Test and Protect app off. The app is an essential tool in reducing transmission of the virus within the community and in allowing exposed individuals to take steps to protect both themselves and their families, so this diktat isn’t just wrong, it’s dangerous. It’s essential that the Education Secretary intervenes immediately to have this instruction withdrawn and new guidance issued to all schools, encouraging not just staff but pupils as well to download the app at protect.scot.”