Stop shifting the goalposts

(Press release issued 6 October)

We condemn the First Minister’s suggestion during her Covid update of 5 October that restrictions in school - including face masks - may remain in place beyond the October holidays. Once again, the First Minister is kicking the can down the road 

What we are seeing is an insidious mission creep. In early August, before the start of term, the Scottish Government said restrictions in schools will remain in place for up to six weeks. The new Cabinet Secretary for Education, Shirley-Anne Somerville, promised masks in class would be dropped “as soon as possible”

She said: "Of course we would like to take these restrictions off as soon as possible. We think they might be in place for up to six weeks, that's to ensure that all the staff within our schools have the opportunity to be fully doubly vaccinated. But if we can take those restrictions - particularly the face masks - off earlier then of course we would do that."

So at that point the ostensible aim of keeping masks in class was to ensure provide a little leeway for staff to have both doses. Well, that's done now. And 12-15 year olds are now being offered the vaccine too. 

In mid-September, this was extended to the October break, and now we see the suggestion that masks in secondary classrooms may stay beyond that. We eagerly await the outcome of yesterday’s (5 October) meeting of the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues, and hope that common sense and compassion will finally prevail. But we fear it will probably not.

So we'll keep standing by our children and say... Enough is enough. The enforcement of face masks in secondary school classrooms - even when kids are seated - needs to end now, as they did in England in May. Keeping the measure is unjust and harmful to our young people, and completely out of step with the easing of restrictions in wider Scottish society.