Parents need to respect face-covering and social distancing rules at school gates when pupils return to class, Education Secretary John Swinney has warned.
Children in P1 to P3 will return to school tomorrow, along with some senior secondary pupils.
Mr Swinney said it was "critical" parents do not relax restrictions
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He acknowledged the Government had little “headroom” regarding the R number – the rate at which the virus grows.
He told the BBC’s Sunday Show programme: “I know this can be quite controversial at times but adults making sure they follow all of the physical distancing requirements at the school gate, or the mask-wearing requirements, is critical to make sure that the return of young children – who are much less susceptible to transmitting the virus – is not in some way underminded by the fact that there is essentially parental transmission.”
He continued: “We’ve all got to play a part, not just the school environment but the whole surrounding environment of society, to make sure that we do all that we can to suppress the virus.
“Because we don’t actually have an awful lot of headroom between where the R level is just now – somewhere between 0.7 and 0.9 – and 1, where obviously the virus begins to spread exponentially.”
Mr Swinney said ministers would be monitoring data carefully when the initial cohort of pupils returns before deciding on whether others could go back to class.
The UK Government has said it hopes to open all schools in England on March 8, depending on falling infection rates.
Asked about this, Mr Swinney responded: “What we will do in Scotland is work to get all pupils back to face-to-face learning at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Safety is absolutely paramount in doing that. That’s why we’ve taken the careful decisions we’ve taken for tomorrow.”
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