Part of 3. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 12:41 pm on 8 July 2020.
Thank you, Llywydd, and I thank the education Minister for being willing to meet virtually on a weekly basis during this time of crisis. It's been most beneficial that we've been able to have those meetings and to have that discussion.
Forgive me, but I am going to return to the issue of schools in September, because this is something that is very much alive in the minds of headteachers, parents and children and young people, too, in terms of what exactly will be happening in September. If it's safe, of course, I'm sure we're all agreed that the best thing for our children and young people is that the schools should reopen fully. I think if we have learned anything during this period, we have learned that the relationship between pupil and child in the classroom is so, so very valuable, and that all the efforts to create online education cannot replace that crucial relationship, although it does have a central role, of course.
In committee yesterday, you said that there will be an announcement this week as to what arrangements you expect to be in place in September, but you also said that you'd held back from making any announcement because the science is evolving. And yes, it is evolving, of course, but it is evolving in Scotland and Northern Ireland too, and they have been able to make announcements. Contrary to what you said in response to Suzy Davies, Scotland has published guidance. On 21 May, they stated that their schools would reopen on 11 August, and then they published guidance on 28 May. And Northern Ireland, on 18 June, stated that their schools would reopen gradually from 24 August onwards, and guidance was published on 19 June. Now, I accept that we don't want to follow other countries' leads and that we can make our own decisions here, but what's different in terms of the evolving science here and the nature of the spread of the virus here as compared with those other nations?