Teachers’ union the MUT has said that this morning during a meeting with education and public health authorities, it advised that it does not agree to the physical re-opening of schools as one of the first measures to be relaxed.

The union stressed that it respects the decisions taken by experts in public health authorities regarding measures to curb the pandemic.

However, when at a time that not more than two people from different households can gather together, in a few days with the release of the measures, we can have twenty-five students and their educators together for six hours, the union said.

The MUT said that schools were closed when the variant was leading to a majority of positive cases and both schools, educators and families “were on their knees with the number of cases, leading to hundreds of students and families in quarantine.”

It added that, this should be avoided as it has been detrimental to all, including education which could not be provided in such circumstances.

The union argued that, “for a while we have heard that the uptake of the virus in children is minimal compared to adults. That is no longer the case. The same goes for opening schools, which lead to a reduction in positive cases. That, too, is no longer the case.”

In the light of these considerations, the MUT called for the plan to release the measures “to be wise and not to put educators, students and families in the same situation they were a few weeks ago.”

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