NI Education: £100,000 to be spent on CO2 monitors for schools

Portable monitors can be used to identify areas where more ventilation is needed.

The Department of Education (DE) is to spend £100,000 on 1,000 carbon dioxide monitors to be used by school maintenance staff.

A wider purchase of 10,000 monitors for schools depends on extra funding in the October monitoring round.

Portable monitors can be used to identify areas where more ventilation is needed.

Teaching unions had called for the department to provide them to all schools.

Schools in other countries, including England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, are due to get the devices during the autumn term.

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen gave more details about the purchase of carbon dioxide monitors in response to an assembly question from the SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole and subsequent questions from BBC News NI.

Ms McIlveen said that £100,000 would initially be spent by the Education Authority (EA) on 1,000 monitors "to be utilised by its maintenance officers in schools as required".

A statement from the department to BBC News NI said that the EA's maintenance officers would use the devices "to assess the CO2 build up in areas of concern within schools and agree an action plan aimed at undertaking work to fix issues identified, wherever possible".

It added: "In addition, the EA will be undertaking a planned programme of window surveys to identify any minor works that may need to be carried out, including any steps to improve ventilation where appropriate.

"Surveys have commenced and any immediate repairs identified to address ventilation concerns will be completed in the current financial year 21-22."

However, the department also said that a wider roll-out of monitors to schools would depend on a Stormont budget reallocation exercise known as a monitoring round.

Teaching unions had called for the department to provide the devices to all schools

Buying another 10,000 devices to give to schools would cost about £1m.

"It has also been decided that there will be a wider allocation of mobile CO2 monitors across the schools' estate of an additional 10,000 units for the wider deployment to all schools," the department said.

"The cost is expected to be in the region of £100 per unit.

"The capital bid which the minister intends to submit as part of the October monitoring round is still under consideration."

The department said that the Education Authority had also been asked "to assess the merits of using stand-alone air filtration units as a means of supporting ventilation in schools".

In England, a trial on the use of air purifiers in schools as a method of reducing the spread of Covid-19 in classrooms is already under way.