On 9 August 2021, most of the Covid restrictions in Scotland were lifted when the country moved beyond Level Zero rules.
Physical distancing and limits on large gatherings and events have been removed. All venues are allowed to reopen - including nightclubs, where patrons are now able to mingle on the dancefloor without masks. Adults attending offices and indeed MSPs in Parliament now remove their masks when seated and 1m apart.
Yet Covid mitigations in schools remain much the same as they were in Level 4, apart from the scrapping of groups (or bubbles) and reduced need for self-isolation of entire classes. The reason given for retaining measures - including full-time masks while seated in class - was to give teachers the chance to have their second jab.
In mid-September, the planned review date at the end of September was extended “at least until the October holidays”, despite the fact that cases across Scotland continue to drop.
At its meeting on 21 September, the Advisory Subgroup on Education and Children's Issues agreed to prioritise the removal of face coverings. Its next meeting, on 5 October, did apparently recommend the removal of masks while seated (see press report) and a draft of the new, revised guidance was circulated.
However, a subsequent Scottish Government announcement on 19 October overturned this recommendation, following the EIS union's statement in favour of retaining masks in classrooms.
This latest statement overtly links the retention of schools measures, especially masks in class, with vaccination rates in 12-15 year olds... another shifting of the goalposts and a slippery slope towards 'no jab, no school' policy.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly shifted the goalposts and rowed back on the advice of its own experts, buckling under union pressure.
While Scottish society has returned to greater normality for adults, and while their peers in England wear no masks while seated in class, secondary school pupils sit in masks for six hours a day, and parents remain excluded from school premises, unable to meet teachers.
