Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Beidh am ag an Aire agus cúig nóiméad leis na ceisteanna. I will give the Minister plenty of time to answer.

It is important that schools are to fully reopen. This question has been answered. The impact on children's development is incalculable and palpable, especially for those who do not respond to remote learning and for children with additional needs and disabilities. Through late starter advantage, we can learn how other countries that are weeks ahead of us in easing restrictions are meeting social distancing requirements by using screens or booths, providing testing and temperature checks, operating staggered school shifts, equipping schools with hand sanitisers and requiring extra hand-washing. It is really important that all of the unions, namely, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, ASTI, and the Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, are on board. Can the Minister reassure students and teachers that his Department will take a clear lead in ensuring that all schools are in a position to fully reopen to all students and staff in a safe and health-managed manner at the start of the new school year?

At the moment, all schools have been left to their own devices to audit needs, plan and procure services and products for safe reopening. Can a centralised procurement system be introduced to allow a consistent approach, reassure parents and ensure that every school is treated equally regardless of sector?

In the context of Covid-19, is the Department willing to actively commit to reducing the pupil-teacher ratio, thereby permanently reducing class sizes? The challenges of Covid-19 have only served to highlight the need for increased capital investment in schools at both primary and post-primary level. Can the Minister assure parents that the decision to move from a 2 m social distancing requirement is based on best health advice and not on a lack of available funds for additional temporary accommodation and staffing?

The reconfiguration of classrooms to accommodate students and children returning in September will be an immense challenge. However, many schools have an untapped resource at their disposal in the form of their outdoor spaces. While not all schools have the luxury of outdoor grounds, those that do could make far better use of passive spaces by converting them to outdoor classrooms. Outdoor spaces can offer a whole new constructive learning environment. School gardens, wildlife areas and school orchards are not just places where the mental health and well-being of young people can be tended to; they are living blackboards into which literacy, numeracy, science and the arts can be incorporated, reflecting every aspect of the primary and secondary school curriculum. A small capital grants programme could help many schools adapt their outdoor spaces using tarpaulin coverings, construct willow features, kit out toolsheds, install raised beds, buy polytunnels or create habitats for wildlife. Interior school space may need to be adapted to the storage of outdoor gear for students. An expansion of the heritage in schools scheme would help to bring in outside expertise while improving the livelihoods of heritage and arts practitioners.

Such exposure to nature on a daily basis would help the mental health and well-being of children and students. Getting out of heated classrooms and getting mucky would also help students' immune systems. If we are to make real inroads in tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, we need a whole new generation of ecologists, entomologists, environmental scientists and climatologists. We need to help our children to develop their ecoliteracy skills and become what the author Richard Louv calls "nature-smart". Mr. Louv has written:

The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.

I have volunteered for many years to develop school gardens, orchards and wildlife gardens, and I have seen whole yards of tarmac or hard surfaces broken up to create gardens. Even in inner-city schools where there are no apparent areas to create a garden, space can be found to nurture the lives of our young people through nature as they come to terms with the trauma of Covid-19. Can the Department of Education and Skills initiate a small grants scheme for schools to assist with the conversion of outdoor spaces into active learning spaces in the form of school gardens, orchards and wildlife gardens?

Finally, in light of concerns raised by school bus operators and individual schools, will the Minister outline the steps being taken to ensure the school transport scheme will be able to operate at capacity when schools reopen and will he make a statement on the matter? I have been made aware of one school in Galway which has been informed by the Department that it will have no school transport in September. This is unacceptable. Clarity is needed and a clear commitment to the provision of school transport is a right that must become a default in the system.

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