Some parents and principals are terrified about the changes to close contact rules for under 12s, according to the INTO.
From next Monday, primary school children and those in creches won’t have to restrict their movements, if they’re close contacts and have no symptoms.
The HSE says covid testing in the past week has been at one of its highest levels to date.
It says children represent a huge volume of this testing - but the positivity rate is declining.
Health officials are concerned thousands of healthy schoolchildren with no covid symptoms are out of school as they’re close contacts.
But the INTO says some parents and principals are terrified about the changes and feel they’re premature.
It says the positivity rate in primary schools is 2 and half times more than it was last year.
The INTO says it would have been better to wait until after the mid-term break to implement any changes - when more reliable data is available.
