Schools have duties in crisis so volunteer usage should only be last resort

The News Letter yesterday asked the Department of Education about this request.

Last week we reported on a parent, one of a married couple of key workers, who felt that their school was setting extra criteria to avoid having to look after her children.

This report was all the more alarming given that the workloads for many teachers will inevitably have fallen due to the lockdown and closure of schools.

Teachers of course have ongoing duties, so there is no suggestion that this is just a holiday for them, and plenty of head teachers immediately stepped up to the mark at this time of national crisis, and made clear that they would be open for vulnerable children as required. Such dedication is no surprise in the great majority of our teachers.

Even so, the public must have complete confidence that no extra volunteers will be required until it is clear that the existing large fleet of teaching staff in Northern Ireland is providing the full service to children of key workers, and all other requirements to pupils (who,devastatingly, now face challenges such as deferred courses and the uncertainty of teacher assessment rather than exams),but is still too stretched.

The government tells us that the volunteer request is just a contingency, in case large scale absences hit schools. That is not an unreasonable plan, provided it is not implemented unless in the strictly necessary circumstances listed above.

The progress of Covid-19 remains a matter of global concern. The appalling news that the prime minister has had to go into intensive care is a vivid illustration of the dangers.

Despite this, there are flashes of hope that the progress of coronavirus in the UK and Ireland might not be as bad as recently feared. With hope, a gradual return to normality might even be possible from May, but there is no grounds for complacency about following government advice until then.