A special taskforce has been set up to examine how youngsters can be phased back into Scottish classrooms.
Nicola Sturgeon said an “education recovery group” was considering methods for a gradual re-opening of schools across the country, which have been closed since March 20.
Announcing the measures yesterday, the First Minister said: “I need to be clear, a return to school might not be possible at all this side of the summer holidays.
“But we are considering whether some groups of students, such as vulnerable children, children who are making the transition from primary to secondary school, or who are studying for national qualifications could return to school ahead of others.”
Ms Sturgeon said it was likely pupils would initially be expected to combine some time in the classroom with continued learning at home.
She said: “For example, it is possible different groups could attend school part-time, in blocks of a few days, or a week at a time, to enable physical distancing and deep cleaning of schools between sessions.”
And she assured parents: “I want to be crystal clear that while we take the greatest care in all of this, that is particularly the case in schools. we will not compromise the safety of your children.”
The British and Irish Group of Teacher Unions (BIGTU) made its safety demands known in a letter sent to officials, including Education Minister John Swinney this week.
The organisation, which represents more than a million people working in education, has urged governments to take “significant caution” before reopening schools and suggested some type of phased return would be safest.
BIGTU’s plea issued to Holyrood, as well as education chiefs in England, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland, demands “significant operational changes” to be implemented ahead of any return and wants a testing protocol put in place beforehand.
The group is insisting on measures such as “effective social distancing, strong hygiene routines, thorough cleansing practices, appropriate PPE available where required and ongoing risk assessments in place to monitor operations”.
The letter warns: “We would highlight the very real risk of creating a spike in the transmission of the virus by a premature opening of schools.
“We are convinced by the experience of other systems that a critical tool in preventing a surge of infection is an established capacity to ‘test, trace and isolate’ and we would argue that reopening schools before such a regime is in place, would be catastrophic to the rate of infection.”
The union is also calling for more focus on pupil wellbeing, saying all children will have experienced trauma to at least some degree.
