John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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825. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a child who is deemed to be a high risk of contracting Covid-19 and is being home-schooled will be marked absent from school; if the authorities will be contacted to investigate the reason for absences in cases in which there are too many absences in the school year. [13967/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Health Protection Surveillance Centre and HSE has published guidance in relation to the return to school for at risk groups.  The advice confirms that for the vast majority of children, can return to school and it is important for the overall health and wellbeing for children to attend school. This is consistent with public health advice internationally.  The guidance is available at the following link. www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/guidance/educationguidance/HSE%20advice%20on%20return%20to%20school.pdf.

My Department has also published guidance to support schools in making adapted education provision for those children who cannot return to school because they are medically certified as being at ‘very high risk’ to COVID-19. The guidance is available on gov.ie.  The purpose of this adapted education provision is to ensure that students who are medically certified as being at very high risk to COVID-19 can maintain a meaningful connection with their class group and school in order to successfully continue their learning from home. Students in this category who engage with learning from home should be marked present on attendance records.

Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) has a statutory responsibility to intervene when a parent/guardian is failing or neglecting his/her child’s attendance at school. TESS views all school attendance referrals from a child welfare perspective with the intention of finding solutions that will enable and support students to attend, participate and be retained in education. I can assure the Deputy that TESS will continue to look at all school attendance cases with a compassionate and child welfare centred approach for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. The role of TESS is to ensure that all students have access to education. TESS is available to work with any student or family in need of support.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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826. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address a matter (details supplied) regarding protections for parents deemed high risk; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13968/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has always been guided by public health advice in relation to what is safe in schools. The CMO has made it very clear in his advices to Government which are published on gov.ie, that schools are safe environments, with very little evidence of transmission within schools, and that the majority of infections of children and adolescents occurs outside the school setting. The decision to delay the reopening of schools was in recognition of the need to reduce societal activity and movement to curb the spread of the virus at a time where there was unprecedented levels of disease transmission in the community. This was not based on a changed assessment of the risks in relation to transmission levels in schools.

Schools have put significant infection prevention control measures in place to reduce the risk of coronavirus being transmitted to/within the school and funding of almost €650 million has been put in place by my Department to fund Covid-19 related measures, including funding for PPE, sanitation and additional cleaning etc.

The HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has issued specific advice about children attending school in the context of covid-19.  This advice covers both children with underlying medical conditions and children living with family members with underlying conditions.  For all children, care should continue to be taken to reduce transmission through the infection control measures promoted by HPSC.

The HPSC advice advises that children with immediate family members, including parents, in both the ‘high risk’ and ‘very high risk’ categories can return to school and it is important for the child’s overall well-being. This is consistent with public health advice internationally in relation to at-risk family members. The priority is that the household continues to follow all current advice on how to minimise the risk of coronavirus, through regular hand washing, etc.

The full re-opening of our schools for all students in line with public health advice remains a top priority for Government and my Department is focussing on the safe return of all remaining cohorts of students who are set to return to school after the Easter Break.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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827. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the length of time that teachers who are pregnant will be exempted from returning to the classroom setting in view of a number of recent stillbirths which may have been related to Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14016/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The general principles to apply to the management of COVID-19 includes the safety and welfare of teachers and other school staff and the minimisation of the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning. The current COVID-19 arrangements in place for teachers are outlined in my Department’s Circular Letter 0049/2020.

The HSE has recently published guidance for the education sector in respect of pregnant employees and my Department is currently seeking clarifications from the HSE on this guidance.

When my Department has considered the HSE clarifications, any changes to the current working arrangements for pregnant teachers will be communicated to employers.

In the meantime, a pregnant teacher should temporarily continue to work remotely i.e. working from home.

The current temporary arrangements for pregnant teachers employed in post primary schools during the partial re-opening period are outlined in my Department’s  Information Note TC 0007/2021. The current temporary arrangements for pregnant teachers employed in recognised primary schools are outlined in my Department’s Information Note TC 0010/2021.