As Scotland battles a second wave of coronavirus infections, a teaching union has said the government should be prepared to close schools, a teaching union has said.
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to announce a new strategic framework for managing outbreaks at a local and national level this week.
The First Minister indicated in the Scottish Parliament last week that the framework will include a tiered local alert system similar to that introduced by Boris Johnson in England last week.
Now a teaching union has said the government must be prepared to close schools as part of this system, whether locally or nationally, to curb the spread of the virus.
Both Nicola Sturgeon and SNP education chief John Swinney have said the government would seek to avoid the closure of schools, as happened at the start of the pandemic.
But Scotland's largest teaching union has demanded clarity for schools on the conditions in which they would face closure to protect public health.
EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said shutting schools, whether at local or national level, should be considered to control the spread of the virus, adding sufficient notice would be needed for parents, pupils and staff to prepare.
He said: "Everyone understands the importance of schools being open but as is now evident from decisions and discussion elsewhere if they need to close, even temporarily, in order to control the virus, that is a decision we need to be prepared to make."
Mr Flanagan added: "As a country we should be open and transparent as to the type of indicators which would trigger such a move so that pupils, parents and teachers can be as prepared as possible for such an occurrence - a few days' notice, for example, would be woefully insufficient."
After schools were locked down, concerns were raised about children who were not able to access the internet effectively enough to continue their learning, something Mr Flanagan says cannot be repeated.
He said: "We also need to be confident that schools are able to switch effectively to remote teaching, or to blended learning, so that we don't see a repeat of the 'digital divide' which was evident in the last lockdown, with pupils from the poorest backgrounds being disproportionately disadvantaged."
