- Advertisement -
HomeUK NewsSecondary school students in Scotland to see mandatory face mask rules

Secondary school students in Scotland to see mandatory face mask rules

Secondary school students in Scotland will have to wear face coverings throughout corridors, communal areas and school transport from next Monday

Scotland’s Education Secretary, John Swinney, has said that the new rules would apply to all pupils in aged over 12 in Scottish schools.

He said that the guidance had been updated based on a new set of advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

There will be no requirements however, for students to wear face coverings in classrooms where distancing measures are in place.

This comes after the government was reportedly in the “final stages” of consultations with teachers and councils about having students wear face coverings throughout Scottish schools while moving between classrooms.

Mr Swinney has said that individual exemptions could be granted for those with suitable health reasons, but he said that the guidance would be “obligatory” for all secondary, special and grant-aided schools in the country.

He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “From August 31st young people over the age of 12 in secondary schools should habitually be wearing face coverings when they are moving around schools and corridors and in communal areas where it is difficult to deliver the physical distancing.”

He said that the Scottish government had acted in response of the new WHO advice that was based on evidence that teenagers over the age of 12 can infect others in the same way that adults can, but that Scotland had decided to go further by extending the measures to school transport.

He went on to say:

Secondary school students in Scotland to see mandatory face mask rules
Scotland’s Education Secretary, John Swinney

“It’s part of the general measures we are taking to ensure we keep pace with the emerging advice about how to keep our schools open and to keep our schools safe,”

Young people had returned to schools in Scotland earlier in August with no requirements for physical distancing between the younger students in schools, as well as no rules surrounding face coverings.

But the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, had signalled on Monday that a further change in the coronavirus guidance in schools was imminent.

The new rules for school transport will apply to those students over the age of five, in line with the same guidelines for public transport throughout the UK. Staff and students in Scotland can continue to wear face coverings in all settings throughout schools voluntarily if they wish.

This comes after thirteen to fourteen-year-olds were less anxious during the nation-wide COVID-19 lockdown than they had been in October of last year, according to a survey from the University of Bristol.

Eileen Prior, the executive director of the parents’ organisation Connect, which was formerly known as the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said earlier that she had hoped that schools would be offered some form of flexibility over how the new guidance for schools was implemented.

She said: “In some schools it won’t be necessary – it depends very much on the environment within a school.”

“Some schools are incredibly crowded but some simply aren’t and some are well below capacity, perhaps with wide corridors and they don’t have the issue that we have in many high schools of young people just crowding because they just can’t not crowd.”

Eve Cooper
Eve Cooper
I've been writing articles and stories for as long as I can remember and in the past few years I've had the fortune of turning that love & passion for writing into my job :)

Breaking News Today is a small UK business struggling to stay afloat during COVID lockdown. If you enjoyed this article or found it useful please subscribe to all of our social media outlets.

285,116FansLike
813FollowersFollow
764FollowersFollow
14SubscribersSubscribe
- Advertisement -

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisement -

Stay Connected

285,116FansLike
813FollowersFollow
764FollowersFollow
14SubscribersSubscribe

Must Read

- Advertisement -