Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) government has announced that schools in the Top End are safe and ready to welcome students back into the classroom because of a range of measures employed to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
“Face-to-face learning is the best option for young Territorians. Not one or two days a week—five days a week,” Education Minister Lauren Moss said in a statement.
The measures include keeping unwell children home until symptoms pass and fulfilling applicable COVID-19 isolations requirements, regular hand washing and sanitising, improved ventilation in classrooms, and outdoor learning.
“I acknowledge that some families may be nervous about sending their child to school. Please take the time to speak with your school about the measures they have in place to minimise the spread of COVID-19,” Moss said.
“It’s important to remember that schools have a lot of expertise in managing illnesses and they are doing everything they can to minimise risks for students and staff.”
A number of families chose to keep their children at home in the previous term due to concerns about COVID-19, attendance data showed.
“Now that we are at the beginning of a new term, students and their families can reset and get ready for a successful and worthwhile term of learning,” Moss said.
“I’d like to recognise and thank our hard-working educators, principals and school support staff for their tremendous effort in keeping our schools open and students learning in Term one.”
The Labor-run NT government extended the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency for an extra 90 days in March which is expected to pass in May.
This provides transitional powers to the Chief Health Officer, who said the emergency has to remain in place because there will be a long tail to the pandemic, and there are a lot of people who are still unvaccinated.
