EDUCATION minister Michelle McIlveen was last night accused of putting "schools in an impossible position" as the new academic term begins amid spiralling Covid-19 cases.
SDLP education spokesperson Daniel McCrossan claimed the DUP minister had not "listened to the concerns that were repeatedly put to her" by schools leaders and teaching unions.
It came as Ms McIlveen yesterday said her priority was "keeping our children and young people in school" as fears rise about the impact that the Omicron variant will have on schools, in particular on staff shortages.
Principals and unions have been calling for more clarity and support from the minister ahead of the new term.
But Ms McIlveen yesterday said "we’ve worked very closely with the Department of Health and Public Health Agency throughout the Covid pandemic alongside school practitioners and trade unions".
"You’ll appreciate that there hasn’t been any change to the guidance with regards to Covid because this very much comes as a recommendation from the Department of Health," she told the BBC.
"At present we haven’t received anything different."
She said correspondence had been issued to schools regarding remote learning and post-primary schools, in particular, had the option of introducing partial timetables and supervised learning.
"In terms of contingency planning, my department has been preparing for various scenarios throughout all of the work areas," she said.
"On December 6 we wrote a detailed note to schools with regards to remote learning. There are a number of scenarios where schools can use remote learning, particularly where they are experiencing staff shortages.
"We have been keeping in contact with schools directly."
Asked why there has been no meeting with the Educational Practitioners Group of school leaders over the past six weeks, she said: "My understanding is that my officials are in regular contact with the practitioners group and trade unions.
"That work has been ongoing since the start of the pandemic. It isn’t acceptable if that is the case and I will follow up on it today.
"My understanding is that the proof is there in that we have been keeping in contact with schools directly."
But Mr McCrossan said Ms McIlveen's "failure to show leadership around Covid-19 has put schools in an impossible position".
"There was silence from the minister over the Christmas break, whilst school leaders were busy planning for how to manage the rapidly changing Covid-19 situation as Omicron spread throughout our community," he said.
"Schools were already at breaking point and many have raised these issues with the minister to make improvements and put a plan in place for reopening - still nothing was done.
"The spread of Omicron is going to have serious consequences for our schools, we will see teachers, staff and pupils forced to isolate and that will have a huge knock-on effect.
"We could have put measures in place to address this if minister McIlveen had listened to the concerns that were repeatedly put to her and done her job."
