The mandatory wearing of face coverings in Scottish secondary schools will come to an end from 18 April, after nearly 18 months.
Various rules on wearing face coverings in secondary schools have been in place since 2 November 2020, with the most recent change meaning that they have not been mandatory in classrooms since 28 February.
Today, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the legal requirement to wear face coverings in certain public places in Scotland will be converted to guidance: the changes will begin on 4 April for places of worship and weddings, with the wider legal requirements for areas like shops and public transport converted to guidance on 18 April.
Conservative leader Douglas Ross said in the Scottish Parliament today that Ms Sturgeon had not mentioned schools. He asked whether the revised policy on face coverings in Scotland meant that they would no longer be required in any part of a school.
Ms Sturgeon said that, “on schools, we would expect the requirements in schools to lift in line with the requirements for the general population”.
Last week, it was widely reported that face coverings would continue to be required in secondary schools after the Easter break, from which many staff and students will return on Tuesday 19 April. There were also reports that the requirements might remain in place until the summer holidays.
Teaching unions have long been resisting any calls for an end to rules on the wearing of face coverings in secondary schools.
This afternoon, the EIS teaching union general secretary Larry Flanagan told Tes Scotland that his union remained opposed to all rules on face coverings in schools coming to an end.
Later, in a statement responding to Ms Sturgeon’s comments, Mr Flanagan said that “the use of face coverings has played an important role in protecting school staff and students and their families throughout the pandemic”.
He added: “It is important that, in our schools, as well as more widely, people should be supported in continuing to wear face coverings should they choose to do so. This provides important additional protection for those who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed, and we must continue to do all that we can to protect people in these categories from the risk of Covid infection.
“If mask-wearing in communal areas is no longer required by regulation, it should still be encouraged as good practice.”
Ms Sturgeon was also asked this afternoon about Covid testing in schools.
Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party, asked whether the first minister would reconsider the current policy and “make sure that asymptomatic testing continues in schools”.
Ms Sturgeon replied that the government would ”continue to develop schools guidance” and that “it is not testing, of course, that is causing some young people to be absent - it’s high levels of infection”.
She added: “And it’s important that we get infection levels down so that we reduce the impact of the virus on schools as we want to reduce it in broader society as well.
“So we continue, as we have done all along, to take a balanced approach to the measures that are in place in schools. We will continue to ensure targeted access to testing on the basis that is set out in the [Covid] testing strategy.
“And of course, if necessary, we will go beyond that as far as we can, given the constraints on funding that I have set out previously in this chamber.”
Mr Flanagan said in response: ”The continued availability of regular, free, lateral-flow testing (LFT) in schools remains essential to limiting the spread of Covid in our schools, to protecting staff and students, and to ensuring that the damaging educational impact of Covid-related absences is limited so far as possible.”
He added: “Replacing tests with advice to ‘stay home if you have any symptoms’ is likely to lead to increased absence as staff and pupils err on the side of caution. Given the continuing high rates of Covid absence, this will put schools under even greater pressure.
“Ending LFT availability as we approach the exam season in secondary schools, where significant Covid outbreaks within a school could be devastating for our young people, is even more nonsensical. The EIS will continue to press the Scottish government for the retention of free lateral-flow testing in our schools.”
