Schools and the pandemic

Sir, – I have a solution for the frustrated brides and grooms. Currently 650 adults and teens are allowed loiter, play and converse for over six hours in the luxurious grounds of my secondary school! We will hire out the premises for any wedding parties. We can accommodate two weddings of over 300 each. The only personal protective equipment required is a home-made mask and a school uniform. Covid doesn’t come to school, apparently. – Yours, etc,

THOMAS McCARTHY,

Chanel College,

Coolock,

READ MORE

Dublin 5.

Sir, – In the last strand of Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) results (2018), Ireland was ranked fourth out of 36 OECD countries for literacy. However, for numeracy we came in seventeenth – bang on average. Maybe this explains why we’ve concocted a policy of placing up to 800 secondary school students – and in our bigger schools even more – into school buildings and asking them to remain two metres apart.

But, at least, with our exceptional literacy rates, we should be able to read the signs – the numbers keep going up. – Yours, etc,

BRIAN COSTELLO,

Ogonnolloe,

Co Clare.

Sir, – Sending children home to socialise with wider groups of friends than would be the case in the school, not to mention the loss of another week’s education, would be an ill-considered response.

The return to school has gone as well as can be expected.

Well done to all involved. – Yours, etc,

ALAN KEALY,

Blackrock,

Co Dublin.