THE Scottish Government must be prepared to close schools if required to stop the spread of coronavirus, a teaching union has said.

Ministers will this week publish a strategic framework for tackling the virus and will include a tiered alert system similar to that put in place in England last week.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has repeatedly said she does not want to close schools again, as was the case in March as a result of the first lockdown.

Teaching union EIS has said clarity must be given to schools on the conditions of their closure if such a situation arises.

General secretary Larry Flanagan said shutting schools, whether at local or national level, should be considered to control the spread of the virus, adding sufficient notice would be needed for parents, pupils and staff to prepare.

He said: “Everyone understands the importance of schools being open but as is now evident from decisions and discussion elsewhere if they need to close, even temporarily, in order to control the virus, that is a decision we need to be prepared to make.”

Mr Flanagan added: “As a country we should be open and transparent as to the type of indicators which would trigger such a move so that pupils, parents and teachers can be as prepared as possible for such an occurrence – a few days’ notice, for example, would be woefully insufficient.”

After schools were locked down, concerns were raised about children who were not able to access the internet effectively enough to continue their learning, something Mr Flanagan says cannot be repeated.

He said: “We also need to be confident that schools are able to switch effectively to remote teaching, or to blended learning, so that we don’t see a repeat of the ‘digital divide’ which was evident in the last lockdown, with pupils from the poorest backgrounds being disproportionally disadvantaged.

“Failing to learn lessons from that experience would be inexcusable.”