CORONAVIRUS

Covid in Scotland: Pupils freeze in bitterly cold classrooms

A teacher at Perth High School said she had been wearing a blanket to cope with temperatures of 11C
A teacher at Perth High School said she had been wearing a blanket to cope with temperatures of 11C

Children are being forced to wear overcoats and blankets in bitterly cold classrooms because of a government edict to keep windows open to limit the transmission of coronavirus.

One teacher said that temperatures plummeted to 11C, potentially putting children at risk of asthma attacks and other conditions linked to the cold.

The Scottish government advises schools to strike a balance between ventilating classrooms to clear the air of the coronavirus while keeping room temperature above 17C.

Nuzhat Uthmani, a teacher at Lorne Street Primary School in Glasgow and a member of the Educational Institute of Scotland teaching union, said: “I had my jacket on after lunchtime for the whole afternoon, along with my 30 pupils — we were so cold.”

Kerry Fraser, an English teacher