THE reopening of Scotland’s schools after the Christmas holidays should be delayed because of the risks posed by Covid-19’s omicron variant, a teaching union said today.

Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association general secretary Seamus Searson said that rising cases were already leading to staffing issues and that the problem was expected to grow worse in the new year.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, meanwhile said that the government should be prepared to return schools to remote learning if necessary.