Teachers ‘ready to tackle swine flu’

TEACHERS have moved to reassure parents that they will be well prepared to help prevent and deal with the spread of swine flu when schools reopen in the coming weeks.

Concerns had been expressed in the past week about the safety of large numbers of children returning to school and the high risk of the disease being spread, as well as about the prospect of schools needing to close if there were high absenteeism rates among teachers.

But following meetings with Department of Education officials, two teacher unions expressed the need for a proportionate and informed response to the illness.