Second level students' group hits out at reopening

The Irish Second-level Students’ Union (ISSU) believes that announcing a full reopening of schools, with a two-day notice, is rushing school leaders to put in adequate risk-mitigation measures to ensure a safe return for students.

Additionally, the department's announcement has not responded adequately to the shortages of school and teaching staff, and student absenteeism.

Sam Brooks and Niamh Jordan from the Athlone area are the two regional representatives for Longford-Westmeath with the ISSU. They were recently elected by schools in the region to serve for the 2022 term and they represent over 13,000 students in the area.

Sam Brooks stated; “The decision of the department to reopen schools is deeply disappointing. Over ⅓ of cases are in young people under 24 with the majority of those being in education. On top of this we also see Westmeath and the Athlone area having among the highest incidence rates in the country which puts students and their families in my own local area especially at an increased risk.

"We face prospects of schools being dangerously understaffed and lacking the means to deal with this crisis, having had teachers out due to covid, online is preferable to being taught by a substitute who doesn't know the class, which greatly slows down learning. Being a fifth year student who was out due to covid I can safely say that I was in a much worse position with the two weeks missed with no online teaching than I was with the months of online teaching during previous lockdowns."

Niamh Jordan added: “We students are being made to attend school during the harshest times in the pandemic when cases are staggeringly high, not the government ministers or anyone else. As a representative of student voices, I urge you to plead our case and hear us. Ventilation will simply not be a saving factor now.

She said students would love to be back in school, but not when cases are this steep.

"It all comes back to the general health and safety of students and the bottom line is we are simply not safe.”

The ISSU notes the high levels of disruption that schools and students have experienced in the last term, and that any return to in-person learning should be done on a phased approach, whilst prioritising exam year students and students with special educational needs.

The ISSU further notes students were not consulted on this announcement. This demonstrates a disregard for how important the voice of students is in this discussion, as an equal stakeholder in education. This approach to finalising the return to school without consultation comes as a surprise, considering a very productive and close relationship between a wider pool of stakeholders with the Department of Education in recent months, in response to the challenges that the pandemic has brought about.

The ISSU is continuing to call for an open and solution-oriented discussion with all education stakeholders on how to minimise disruption of teaching and learning. The union is calling for:

A phased return to school, starting from Monday, January 10, prioritising in-person tuition for exam year students and students with Special Education Needs (SEN).

The urgent sourcing of HEPA filters for all classrooms.

Additional adjustments to be made to the Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle exam papers for 2022.

The ISSU is urging all stakeholders in school communities to adhere strictly to public health regulations in order to ensure the safety of schools for all students and staff.