CO2 monitors to be delivered to all State schools by mid-September

The delivery of about 35,000 carbon dioxide monitors to all State primary and secondary schools should be complete by mid-September, the Department of Education has said.

The department last week began to supply schools with the devices in an attempt to help regulate ventillation levels and prevent the spread of Covid-19 as hundreds of thousands of pupils return to classrooms.

John O’Donovan, principal of St Joseph’s School in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, said the return to physical learning was “totally different” this September due to the progress of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

“I hope this will be a bit more relaxed . . . It is definitely a relief to have teachers vaccinated,” he said. “We have a bit of a concern about pregnant teachers working but the advice is they can work away.”

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Air quality

Mr O’Donovan said parents seemed less nervous sending their children back to school this year since they “know what to expect” this time around.

The school has many infection-prevention measures in place, he said, including the CO2 monitors which indicate through traffic light colours a classroom’s air quality.

“They are quite good as they give us an indication of when to open up the windows . . . Last year we did find that the kids got cold,” Mr O’Donovan said.

Teachers’ Union of Ireland general secretary Michael Gillespie said its members were returning to schools with a sense of “caution” given the wide circulation of the Covid-19 Delta variant.

Mitigation measures

He said the data shows that the mitigation measures applied last year were effective and he welcomed the extra steps being taken to ensure good ventilation.

“Obviously we need community help. If people have symptoms they should not send their kids to school,” he said. “Everyone working in conjunction is the secret to this . . . There will be outbreaks, but it is about mitigating them and keeping them as low as possible.”

Kieran Christie, secretary general of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, said its members hoped schools opened “safely and remain open right throughout the year”.

“While remote teaching had its place in the context of the pandemic, we wouldn’t like to go back to it,” he said, adding that the Delta variant was a “very substantial concern”, particularly for unvaccinated pregnant teachers.