Face coverings will be mandatory for secondary school staff and students when they return.
The Department of Education has updated it’s public health guidelines ahead of the re-opening next month.
It says the masks must be worn where a 2 metre distance between people cannot be maintained.
ASTI Vice President Ann Piggot says even one metre is a tough task for most schools:
“Some schools are very old, they don’t have much space, and even newer schools that have big PE halls and assembly areas where they can stretch out students, it’s still very difficult to fit everyone in”.
“It will be impossible to put every school student in the two metres distance in every class, therefore we’re going with the one metres distance which is still very difficult for a school management to organise, and that is why we totally welcome this announcement”.
