Covid 19 Omicron: Ministry of Education working to update toolkits for principals

The Ministry of Education has acknowledged frustration from school principals as they try to navigate the changing protocols around the response to Omicron.

With some students back on campus already and thousands due back next week, principals said they were struggling to find clear information on recent changes to the Covid response in schools.

Changes include increasing isolation time for confirmed cases, scrapping the casual-plus contact category, and treating vaccinated and non-vaccinated confirmed cases the same.

It has also introduced mandated boosters for eligible teachers by March 1.

Sean Teddy Hautū of the Ministry of Education said he recognised the challenges school leaders had navigating the changes.

"They have done a fantastic job and our regional offices are working hard to provide continued support 'on the ground'," he said.

"We will continue to share the latest public health guidance and advice through the bulletins as soon as it becomes available."

This week principals spoken to by the Herald said part of the frustration was the amount of outdated information on the website.

The Ministry of Education keeps schools updated through school bulletins sent to school leaders.

Principals want clear information from the Ministry of Education before school starts. Photo / Getty Images

Recent bulletins sent to schools still linked through to rules used for the Delta variant - not Omicron.

Hautū said the Ministry of Education was working with the Ministry of Health to update these toolkits.

"As noted in the January 25th bulletin, the Government announced that case management and contact tracing will be managed differently in light of the Omicron variant.

"These changes took effect from Friday, 21 January 2022 and we are working with the Ministry of Health to update our toolkits for school leaders to reflect this."

For now, the Ministry of Education said the process when a case is identified at school is unchanged.

"Schools contact their regional education office who support them through the case management and contact tracing process, alongside the regional public health team."