The General Secretary of the Irish National Teacher's Organisation (INTO) has called for the Government to reintroduce contact tracing in schools.
John Boyle was speaking as he said that teachers faced an "incredibly difficult" reopening on Thursday morning, with staff numbers decimated due to contracting Covid or being a close contact of someone who did.
However, Mr Boyle hailed the "trojan work" put in by the staff who did make it into work.
Mr Boyle's statement said: "Initial feedback from members on the ground is that today was an incredibly difficult first day back, with many pupils and staff members restricting movement due to contracting the virus or being close contacts. School leaders and teachers have put in trojan work to ensure the reopening of schools and the delivery of classroom tuition to as many pupils as possible.
"Without the support of student teachers the situation would have been even more challenging.
"Principals, essentially abandoned by public health during the last term, need robust, consistent and swift support as they chart the uncertain days and weeks ahead. In order to maximise our chances of providing in-person teaching and learning throughout this term, we again call on government to reinstate contact tracing in schools.
"Pregnant teachers have shared their anxiety and concerns with us and we have raised these issues with the Department of education and public health.”
Over 23,000 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in Ireland in the last 24 hours, with an increase in recent days in both the number of patients in hospital and the intensive care unit with the virus causing worry for health officials.
