Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced that the state’s schools will be “student-free” from next week.
In a statement this morning, she said children whose parents work in essential services will still be allowed to attend. Those aged 60 or over working in a school do not have to have contact with students and can work from home if they wish.
“Anyone who's in our workforce, including people who stack shelves at Coles and Woolies and work in a whole range of industries, their children will still be able to go to school,” Palaszczuk said.
Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace said the measure will allow teachers and principals to continue developing online learning materials for students.
“There are currently two weeks' worth of content on the online learning hub and we are preparing further weeks in advance, depending on what happens obviously into the future,” Grace said.
“This will be a completely new manner in which we will be delivering learning to students at home”.