MSPs will consider calls for more to be done to ensure teachers are not pressures into returning to classrooms – including potentially “be placed on leave without loss of income”.
The Scottish Greens are tabling a debate in Holyrood tomorrow after reports that clinically vulnerable teachers have been pressured to work despite the advice of their GPs, or told to turn off their NHS track and trace Protect Scotland app.
Aberdeen City Council has issued advice for teachers to disable the app, insisting schools have strong enough measures to protect staff from catching the virus.
Statistics show that as of November 10, 29,486 pupils and 2,615 staff were absent from Scottish schools for Covid-19 related reasons, with absence rates affecting areas with higher levels of deprivation more.
READ MORE: Union warns over industrial action if teachers feel unsafe
Scottish Greens education spokesperson, Ross Greer, will table a motion at tomorrow’s debate – calling for the Scottish Government to “work with local authorities to ensure that any vulnerable school staff member who is medically unable to attend school in person without being placed at unacceptable risk is better supported to either work from home or in a safer alternative setting, or if this is not possible, to potentially be placed on leave without loss of income”.
The motion also “expresses disappointment in government efforts to adequately prepare resource levels for Covid related staff absences” and calls for 2,000 full time teachers to be recruited to ensure “safe staffing levels” can be maintained.
The party will also issue a plea to “make regular voluntary Covid-19 testing widely available for all staff and senior pupils across all of Scotland’s schools”.
Mr Greer said: “For many teachers, support staff and their families, the return to full-time schooling has been extremely stressful, particularly since the second wave of the virus began. The very least our school staff deserve is to feel safe at work. Instead, they are being made to feel expendable.
"Teachers with serious health conditions are being bullied into classrooms despite advice from their GP, social distancing is clearly impossible and staff absences are bringing some schools close to the point of having to close.
“No one wants to disrupt the education of our young people more than it already has been, but this isn’t a choice between education and safety. If we don’t take these steps, like recruiting additional staff and making testing more widely available, greater disruption and even school closures will be inevitable.”
The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.
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