Keeping face masks in classrooms has been welcomed by a teaching union in Fife as the region’s Covid-19 case rate remains among the highest in Scotland.
Secondary school pupils must continue wearing face coverings during lessons for now, contrary to expectations during the October holiday that they would be allowed to remove them in the classroom from the start of this term.
With Fife’s seven day case rate of 413.5 per 100,000 people (as reported on Tuesday) the fifth highest of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas, the local branch of the EIS said the Scottish Government had made the correct decision on retaining the mitigation.
In a poll we conducted more than 90% of the 2,347 readers who responded were against pupils having to wear masks in class.
But EIS Fife spokesman David Farmer said local teachers had been worried by the reports – based on a leaked draft guidance document – that the mitigation measure was to be dropped.
Mr Farmer said: “As was said [by EIS] nationally, we would want all the mitigations to stay in place, unless there was a good reason for removing them, until infection rates go down.
“Fife has a higher rate of infection than all four cities in Scotland.”
Over the holidays, he said, union members were worried about an increased risk of virus transmission in classrooms if secondary school pupils were without face masks.
He said: “There are teachers who have family members who were shielding, and taking away any of the mitigations, including face coverings in the classroom, isn’t something they are going to be comfortable with until these numbers come down.”
The Scottish Government announced last Tuesday that mitigation measures in place in schools last term would remain to allow time for more 12 to 15-year-olds to be vaccinated.
