The First Minister has defended her government’s “bonkers” plan to chop off the bottom of classroom doors in an effort to limit the spread of Covid in schools.
Douglas Ross challenged Nicola Sturgeon on the safety of the much-derided policy at First Minister’s Questions as he put the Scottish Government’s approach to ventilation in schools under the spotlight.
The Scottish Conservative leader cited a retired firefighter who has claimed that chopping the bottom off doors would increase the risk of a fire spreading.
The First Minister failed to directly respond to those concerns and defended the policy.
Douglas Ross welcomed plans to install air filters in classrooms as a sensible response to the issue but highlighted comments from the EIS union and the Scottish Teachers for Positive Change and Wellbeing that the Scottish Government had been too slow to tackle the problem of ventilation in schools.
A spokeswoman for Scottish Teachers for Positive Change and Wellbeing said this week: “We’ve had summer 2020, we’ve had summer 2021, we’ve had two winters and two periods of long lockdown where all these things could have been put in place.”
Scottish Conservative Leader Douglas Ross said: “The Scottish Government has had two years to make schools fit for use since the pandemic began, yet now we discover one of their ideas to protect kids and teachers from Covid is the bonkers idea to chop the bottom off doors.
“It would be laughable if it wasn’t such a serious issue. Indeed, there is a fire-safety point here.
“A retired firefighter has warned that the doors in a school are essential for holding back heat and smoke should a fire start. In light of this did the Scottish Government consult the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service about these plans?
“Bringing in air filters for classrooms is a much more sensible suggestion that every party supports - but the SNP need to get them distributed quickly.
“They have been far too slow to act on ventilation but we’ve seen throughout the pandemic that schools have fallen down the priority list for this government.
“The First Minister must guarantee that all of the serious ventilation measures - not chopping the ends off classroom doors - will be in place by the time that schools go back after the February holiday.”