Pressure Growing On Welsh Government To Delay Reopening Schools
Unions want learning to move online for all pupils for the first few weeks.
Pressure is growing on the Welsh Government to rethink pupils returning to school for face-to-face learning over the coming days.
Two Welsh teaching unions - NAHT Cymru and NASUWT Cymru - are now calling for teaching over the next few weeks to move online in a bid to help prevent the spread of the new variant of Covid 19.
The National Education Union Cymru has already called for in-person learning to be delayed until at least 18 January.
While Local authorities have been given flexibility to decide when in the next two weeks schools should restart - there are now calls for all pupils to learn from home in the short term.
Councils are able to make decisions on when classes should restart based on local factors - like the covid rate in their area.
It's expected some schools in Wales will return this week while others will return in the week commencing 11th January.
Laura Doel, Director of school leaders' union NAHT Cymru, said: "We want to see children in school. It is the best place for their education and their wider wellbeing.
"We understand that the Welsh Government is seeking to strike a balance between minimising the risk of transfer of COVID-19 and providing face to face education for all children.
"However, the latest data shows that in large parts of Wales, control of infection has been lost and the lack of understanding regarding the new strain has now created intolerable risk to many school communities.
"It is simply unacceptable for schools to remain open when there is such a question mark over the impact the new variant will have and we will not sit back and let this happen without calling the Welsh Government to account, for the sake of the whole school community."
"We believe that it is wrong to keep people in harm's way whilst the implications of the new variant of the virus are still being discovered. The currently available information contains no solid scientific evidence regarding the impact of the new variant on schools.
"In particular, there is nothing that outlines the risks to pupils and teachers of maintaining in-person tuition. With this in mind we had begun legal proceedings against the government to force them to disclose the scientific information they are withholding.
"We have asked the Welsh Government to share the evidence justifying the distinctions drawn between primary and secondary schools, the geographical distinctions between Wales and England and the evidence that is being used to underpin the decision that schools’ plans do not need to change despite the emergence of the new variant of Covid in the UK."
Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said: "“The NASUWT is completely committed to ensuring that children can return to school as quickly as possible.
"However, it is now abundantly clear that the pandemic is seriously impacting on the ability of all schools to continue to operate normally.
"There is genuine concern that schools are not able to reopen fully and safely at this time.
"The NASUWT remains of the view that schools and other settings should only remain open to all pupils where it is safe for them to do so.
"The NASUWT will not hesitate to take appropriate action in order to protect members whose safety is put at risk as a result of the failure of employers or the Welsh Government to ensure safe working conditions in schools."