The Scottish Parliament is set to back more protections for
school staff and pupils during the COVID-19 pandemic, in a debate
brought forward by the Scottish Greens.
The party’s education spokesperson has proposed a motion for debate tomorrow [Wednesday 18
Nov] raising concerns over reports that clinically vulnerable
teachers have been pressured to work despite the advice of their
GPs, or told to turn off their NHS track and trace app.
The motion instructs the Scottish Government and councils to
ensure that clinically vulnerable staff are supported to work
from home or a safer alternative setting, or if this isn’t
possible to be placed on leave without loss of income.
The motion also calls for regular weekly testing to be available
for all staff and senior pupils and for the Scottish Government
to fund the recruitment of 2,000 additional teachers to ensure
that schools can meet safe staffing requirements which managing
Covid-related absences.
As of 10 November 2020, 29,486 pupils and 2,615 staff were absent
from Scottish schools for Covid-19 related reasons, with absence
rates affecting areas with higher levels of deprivation more.
Commenting, said:
“For many teachers, support staff and their families, the return
to full-time schooling has been extremely stressful, particularly
since the second wave of the virus began. The very least our
school staff deserve is to feel safe at work. Instead, they are
being made to feel expendable.
"Teachers with serious health conditions are being bullied into
classrooms despite advice from their GP, social distancing is
clearly impossible and staff absences are bringing some schools
close to the point of having to close.
“No one wants to disrupt the education of our young people more
than it already has been, but this isn’t a choice between
education and safety. If we don’t take these steps, like
recruiting additional staff and making testing more widely
available, greater disruption and even school closures will be
inevitable.”
ENDS
INFO
Motion for debate: "That the Parliament believes that education
is best delivered in the classroom, but that making our schools
safe for pupils, teachers and staff must be a top priority of
government during the pandemic
notes that as of 10 November 2020 29,486 pupils and 2,615 staff
were absent from Scottish schools for Covid-19 related reasons
with absence rates affecting areas with higher levels of
deprivation more;
expresses concern over reports that some school staff have been
instructed to turn off the Protect Scotland App when in school
and may have felt under pressure to continue to attend schools
even when notified by the App of a potential exposure risk.
considers it unacceptable that some clinically vulnerable
teachers have felt pressured to return to in-person teaching
against specific advice from their GPs to the contrary and in the
absence of an overall national strategy on how to deal with
school staff with chronic or underlying health conditions,
calls on the Scottish Government to work with local authorities
to ensure that any vulnerable school staff member who is
medically unable to attend school in person without being placed
at unacceptable risk is better supported to either work from home
or in a safer alternative setting, or if this is not possible, to
potentially be placed on leave without loss of income.
expresses disappointment in government efforts to adequately
prepare resource levels for Covid related staff absences
calls on the Scottish Government to deliver funding for the
purpose of recruiting at least an additional 2,000 full-time
teachers to ensure that all schools can maintain safe staffing
levels whilst managing absences due to Covid-19
and further calls on the Scottish Government to make regular
voluntary Covid-19 testing widely available for all staff and
senior pupils across all of Scotland’s schools."
