Dáil debates

Wednesday, 24 June 2020

Reopening of Schools and Summer Provision 2020: Statements

 

3:55 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Is the Minister aware of how frustrated and annoyed teachers and parents are about the lack of clarity regarding the reopening of schools in September? He needs to be. Every primary school knows or learns quickly that one cannot put a square peg into a round hole, but it seems that the Minister and the Government think one can and are determined to try to put a square peg into a round hole. The square peg in this instance is the Minister's determination to reopen schools as normal and the round hole is, pre-Covid, the most overcrowded classes and most underfunded education system in Europe, and now on top of that is the requirement for social distancing. One does not fit into the other and everybody knows that is the case. The round hole becomes even less able to take the square peg when, in the framework document that the Minister produced on 12 June, he categorically ruled out the thing that could resolve this conundrum by stating, "It is also not feasible to consider the wholesale splitting of classes and recruiting extra teachers – given that there are significant teacher supply issues currently." If that is the case, we are banjaxed. The Minister can insist he is going to put the square peg into the round hole, but it cannot be done.

It does not matter whether the Minister talks about pods or bubbles because, as one teacher put it, we already have pods and bubbles, and they are called classes. To give the Minister an idea of what those classes look like, in one DEIS band 2 school, a teacher who I will not name has 30 children in sixth class. She says that almost all of the kids in that class are taller than she is. How will that class be turned into bubbles and pods with social distancing and isolation when somebody has symptoms? Where will that person be placed? Who will look after the room in which someone is isolated? It does not work unless we have extensive recruitment of teachers and significantly expand the capacity of our system, providing the necessary funding and resources. The Minister is ruling that out. Many cleaners would need to be recruited for the necessary sanitisation of the classrooms to try to manage this. Even in the best case scenario, I know that this is difficult, but the Minister seems to be insisting that he is not doing the one thing that could possibly point the way to resolving this conundrum.

I put it to the Minister that this cannot and will not work. It is reliant on blind optimism about what the Minister hopes might happen in September. Even then, is it compliant with what NPHET and the expert advisory group say about social distancing? I do not see how it could be unless they say that no social distancing is necessary in schools. Will the Minister please resolve that conundrum? I put it to him that what is necessary is a call for Ireland, but a better one than we had for healthcare workers. We need a call for Ireland to appeal for people who are qualified and for cleaners and so on who will be offered proper, paid jobs in education to give us the smaller class sizes where the bubbles and pods are possible. Recruit all the school secretaries. Are they expected to sign on for the dole again this summer after all the work they have done? Can we treat special needs assistants with respect and pay them properly too? They are angry about how they have been treated.

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