Speaking on Claire Byrne Live last night, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar detailed the government’s plans for a phased reopening of schools in Ireland, which is due to commence this coming February and March.
The Tánaiste explained that the phased reopening of schools would start with the return of students with special needs, followed by primary school children, and students in exam years.
However, Varadkar outlined that this plan would have to be agreed to by school principals, unions and other participating groups, in order to ensure that children who desperately need in-person learning, are getting the care and education which they deserve.
‘We will and want to open schools on a phased basis in February and March’ – @LeoVaradkar
— Claire Byrne Live (@ClaireByrneLive) January 25, 2021
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar tells #CBLive about the plans to reopen schools. pic.twitter.com/oADBpyCzNe
“We want to discuss this with principals, unions, parents and students groups. It does have to be done by agreement, but we are very keen to start with children with additional needs, they need their education and some of them are regressing now which is very worrying,” the Tánaiste explained.
While Varadkar was unable to give us a definite reopening date at the moment, he was confident that by mid February, we would be down to 400 new covid cases per day, allowing schools to reopen on a phased basis, into early March.
Because of the new variant of the virus, the government are keen to introduce a staggered reopening of schools, “not with one big bang but on a phased basis,” the Tánaiste said.
