It has been said, by the Education Minister, that it would be “extremely likely” that there could be a phased re-opening of schools in Northern Ireland in September, at the start of what would be a new educational year.
However, Peter Weir said that he would be criteria led and not data led.
He went on to add that any decision to be made would need to reflect the executive’s wider plan for recovery from the Covid-19 virus.
“A number of practical measures need to be addressed”, he said.
Under the draft proposals being worked out by officials, crèches for children of non-essential workers will not open until the later stages of the phased plan to ease the coronavirus restrictions.
The reopening of schools, colleges and other education facilities are part of the plans that are being worked on by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), with the phasing of the plan to lift restrictions being broken down as:
Initial phase
Early phase stage one
Early phase stage two
Middle phase and
Late phase
The latter two phases could be broken down into more phases.
While the latest drafts of the document do not specify dates, earlier drafts spaced the phases out into periods between early May and September.
