School bans holding hands: Irish mother ‘ bursts into tears!’

In every story or a movie, the ambience of a school is projected with the laughing and noisy sounds of children and an establishing shot might contain students walking through the corridors holding hand in hand with their friends.

But covid had changed everything, as social distancing became a major concern in schools, strict rules are made for the smooth and safe functioning.

The main advice is that students are not supposed to great each other with Hugs or hand to hand contact.

A Dublin mother ‘burst into tears’ on hearing that her daughter’s school has imposed a ban on holding hands.

The parents are now coming to terms with new restrictions imposed upon their children. Though the social distancing has not imposed on children from junior infants to second class, it is still encouraged.

As per the advice of Department of Education any sort of physical contact such as ‘hand to hand greetings and hugs’ should be discouraged.

The new restrictions broke the hearts of many parents including Clare O’Connor from Donaghmede in Dublin. She is distressed over the fact that her daughter would not be able to hold hands with her new classmates on the first day.

Ms O’Connor, who is also the director of Inner City Helping Homeless, shared her dismay on social media. She said that the email detailing the measures crushed her.

She feels that the blame lies with the Government for not efficiently handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

She pointed out that if Government took stringent measures in controlling the tourists along with the outbreaks in meat factories and Direct Provision Centers, schools would be a much better place.

 The school has assured that if the teacher had to get closer to a pupil, they would do so by wearing masks and maintaining as much distance as possible. Ms O’Connor also expressed her worry that her daughter won’t be able to adjust in such an unusual environment.

 In response to this, the spokesperson for the Department of Education said that the advice is based on the public health advice on the reopening of schools which was published in early July.

The advice states that ‘ increasing separation’ and ‘decreasing interaction’ can be applied usefully in school settings. It is based on this advice that schools are forbidding students to hold hands in order to reduce physical contact.