Teachers call for speed as officials consider school virus test system

The HSE said "the issue of testing and the management of Covid-19 in children is under consideration by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet)".

Teachers are keen to see tests turned around for teachers within 24 hours for schools to stay open, because of a concern over access to substitute teachers. They feel a shortage of cover means principals could be forced to ask parents at short notice to keep children away from school while the teacher awaits a test result or substitute cover is found.

Covid-19 restrictions mean teachers who have symptoms will be unable to attend work until they have undergone a test and been given a negative result. It has been suggested to officials to encourage take-up of the flu vaccine in schools to minimise disruption caused by other illnesses with similar symptoms to Covid-19.

A HSE spokeswoman said in the event of an outbreak in a school the response will be managed by public health officials.

"There is currently no testing strategy for schools per se, however, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has developed the principles for considering closure or partial closure, of educational facilities in the context of outbreaks, or suspected outbreaks, of Covid-19. Any cases that arise in the school setting will be responded to and managed by Public Health in accordance with their policies and as Public Health have been doing previously with outbreaks in other facilities."

Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) General Secretary Michael Gillespie said members will need access to Covid-19 tests within hours of developing symptoms and encouraged the Government to target getting them back to work within a day.

The TUI said a teacher with symptoms should be able to undergo a test and get a result within a day, allowing them to return to school 24 hours after taking it if the results are negative.

"What would be in my head, would be if a teacher wakes up with a cold and calls their GP the doctor will send them for a test. Ideally they should be able to do their test at 10am that morning and at some stage the following day they should have their test back. Even it was by 12pm teachers will go in for that afternoon to teach their classes if the test is negative," said Mr Gillespie.

"The Government has said they are imposing the restrictions to protect the vulnerable, get schools back and to reopen the hospitals fully because people are afraid to go to hospital. If the rest of society is doing all this for those three reasons why wouldn't you prioritise teachers?"

It comes as the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) urged qualified teachers who have not been working in the sector recently to return.

NAPD deputy director Paul Byrne predicted there will be strong demand for substitute cover in the coming months. There are about 6,000 teachers registered with the Teaching Council who are not currently active. It is expected there will be significant demand for Irish, home economics, modern languages and some science teachers.

"You have to have a repository of teachers," Mr Byrne said. "The key to being able to supply subs to schools will be that anyone who is qualified and Teaching Council registered but not in employment will have to register on Sub Seeker at educationposts.ie because that is where schools will look for cover.

"The demand will be there for subject-specific subs."