Call for mandatory masks in NI schools

This comes after the Education Minister Peter Weir issued guidance to schools recommending the use of face coverings in school corridors and other communal areas.

Mr Weir’s guidance, which was published a week ago today, applies to pupils in post-primary schools only. Some schools have chosen to make masks mandatory already.

The National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) trade union has now called for face coverings to become compulsory rather than simply recommended.

NASUWT Northern Ireland official Justin McCamphill, speaking to BBC Radio Ulster yesterday morning, said: “We need to move from strongly recommended to actually making sure these measures are compulsory in schools and are carried out in schools.”

This comes as pupils in Northern Ireland return to full-time education for the first time since March, when schools were closed due to coronavirus.

Another teaching union, the Ulster Teachers’ Union (UTU), has already called for the guidance to go further.

Last week, UTU president Stephen McCord said: “We believe the action on mask wearing should go even further, because the announcement from the minister failed to mention non-teaching staff in schools or give guidance to parents dropping off and collecting children from school.”

He added: “These are all areas where people may not be able to socially distance, depending on the individual circumstances of the school, its location and lay-out.”

In Northern Ireland, face coverings are compulsory on public transport and in indoor spaces such as shops where social distancing is difficult or impossible.