On the same day that the first minister acknowledged cases of coronavirus in Scottish schools were an inevitability, the education secretary has announced school staff will be able to request a test for Covid-19 - even if they show no symptoms.
This week Scottish pupils are returning to school for the first time since the lockdown began, with today marking the first day back for many young people.
However, teachers remain concerned. A survey of 30,000 teachers carried out by the EIS teaching union found that, while 60 per cent expressed support for the decision to reopen schools, 66 per cent had anxiety and lacked confidence that about mitigating factors being in place.
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In a statement to the Scottish Parliament this afternoon, education secretary and deputy first minister John Swinney - who today faced calls to be sacked - acknowledged concerns remained, saying Covid-19 was “a new and frightening virus” and it was “entirely reasonable” for school staff “to be concerned for their own health and to want to understand what we are doing to keep them safe”.
As the latest scientific advice on Covid-19 and schools was published, he said that teachers with symptoms would get priority access to testing and there would be ongoing monitoring of the virus in schools. He also said that the Covid-19 Education Recovery Group - set up to reopen schools safely following lockdown - would be briefed regularly on the data including “Covid rates in school-aged children and young people and in teachers and school absences”.
But the surveillance programme was “just one element” of the Scottish government’s plan, he said.
Mr Swinney added: “So today I can announce that we are extending the testing programme.
“Teachers, nursery and school staff who are concerned they may have been exposed to infection can now be tested for Covid-19 on demand, even if they show no symptoms.
“The step has been taken to provide additional reassurance to teachers and other staff as children and young people return to the classroom and to nursery.”
However, the Scottish Greens’ education spokesman, Ross Greer - who has been calling for regular testing of school staff - highlighted that the testing would not be proactive, and that school staff would have to request a test.
Scottish Labour’s education spokesman, Iain Gray, said a further step to reassure teachers would be to reduce class sizes. He asked how many of the extra teachers promised by the Scottish government were actually in post.
Mr Swinney responded that the resources had been made available but there was no “update on recruitment”. He added he would share that information with parliament as soon as it became available.
His statement followed First Minister’s Questions when Ms Sturgeon said she expected coronavirus outbreaks to happen in schools.
Responding to a question from Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie on protection for children and staff, the first minister said the Test and Protect system was up to the job of controlling the spread of the virus.
She said clusters were likely to occur in secondary schools, with older pupils able to catch and transmit the virus more easily.
She said: “We, in all likelihood, will see outbreaks of coronavirus in schools and in secondary schools perhaps in particular.
“It is how we contain those and make sure that those are properly dealt with that is the important thing.
“I want to give the chamber assurance that is absolutely an area of priority focus for the government.”
