MSP calls for an end to face masks in Arran schools

West Scotland MSP Jamie Greene has called on the Government to end the requirement for facemasks in schools across Arran.

 

Mr Greene, who is also calling for school plays to resume, says that his call is backed up by minutes of a meeting of the Scottish Government advisory sub-group on education which advised that face mask use in classrooms should be ended once teachers are double jagged.

 

Highlighting the disruption faced by pupils, Mr Greene said: ‘Young people across Arran have already faced a year and a half of upheaval and deserve as close a return to normality as possible.

 

'The success of the UK’s vaccine scheme means that face masks in schools are no longer a necessity, as the Government’s own advisers have suggested.

 

‘It’s time for compulsory masks to end and for individual pupils and parents to make that choice for themselves.’

 

The sub-group also agreed that ventilation and hand hygiene measures should be maintained, along with physical distancing between adults and pupils in schools. And while there was general agreement that face coverings should be removed in classrooms - once all school staff have received their second dose of the vaccine - they also recommended that face coverings should remain in use in communal areas.