Thomas Byrne
Ceist:153. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the meetings that have taken place to date on the reopening of schools in September 2020. [7230/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 27 May 2020
Ceisteanna (153)
Freagraí scríofa
On the 1 May 2020, the Taoiseach announced as part of the "Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business" that schools will commence opening on a phased basis at the beginning of the 2020/2021 academic year.
My Department is engaging and working with the education partners and relevant stakeholders on planning arrangements for the re-opening of schools in accordance with the timeframe outlined in the roadmap and all decisions on how schools are to safely re-open and operate will be consistent with public health advice. There has been a meeting of the primary education forum and a meeting with post-primary stakeholders which took place last week. The Department has also been engaging with management bodies on a weekly basis to prepare guidance for the school sector on a range of issues, and this guidance has been published on the Department’s website.
In addition as part of this engagement, each of the education partners were given the opportunity to outline the key issues that they would like to have considered in the context of re-opening schools.
These will now be worked through in detail as part of the development of the roadmap for re-opening schools. Ongoing meetings with stakeholders will be arranged as the Roadmap for Reopening Schools is developed.