Share your story: Is Covid-19 causing problems in your child’s school?

There are currently 12,000 children out of school in Ireland because they are close contacts of Covid-19 cases.

At the weekend, HSE chief executive Paul Reid said there were small outbreaks at 1,300 primary schools and pre-school facilities, and in about 750 secondary schools. "It's a very significant number of schools." He also said the rule forcing schoolchildren to stay home and isolate for 14 days as close contacts of Covid-19 cases was "probably unnecessary".

The school term is only back two weeks, but already Covid-19 is causing havoc – with many children being sent home, and classes shut down. There have also been knock-on effects, including the cancellations of already-deferred Communions and Confirmations.

The Irish Times would like to hear from parents about what the stop-start return to school has been like for them, and their children.

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How have you and your children been affected?
Has there been clarity on how contract tracing works?
Has it impacted your work schedule?
What has the communication with the school been like?
What would you like to see happen next?

With almost half of all Covid-19 tests now among those under 18 years of age, and Clíona Ní Cheallaigh – an infectious diseases consultant at St James’s Hospital in Dublin – saying most children under-12 will be infected by Covid-19 by the springtime, has this impacted on your planning and thinking for the school term?

Some of the submissions will be published on irishtimes.com.
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