Madise: School that asked children to distance learn acted unlawfully

Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise has said a school which asked children to move to distance learning after returning from a holiday abroad did not behave legally. This foreign country was not on the list of countries with a quarantine obligation at that time.
Madise pointed out, without mentioning the name of the school, that the school, which quarantined the children in early September was in the wrong.
She explained information had been published on the school's website stating that students were not allowed to go abroad during the study period, but that the quarantined students went on a trip before the start of the school year.
In addition, the website stated that if a student goes on a trip abroad during the school holidays in a country where the infection rate is 16 per 100,000 inhabitants or more, he or she must remain in self isolation for two weeks. However, the infection rate in the country visited was not higher than the limit.
"In view of the circumstances and the legislation, I consider that the school had no legal basis for directing children to distance learning," Madise wrote.
Madise said the school decided to move the students to distance learning after an extraordinary management meeting. The school had been contacted by a parent of one of the children's classmates who had reported that the children might be violating isolation requirements.
The Chancellor of Justice emphasized that in such a situation the objections of the other party should also be heard, but it seems that the school did not take them into account after a telephone conversation with the parents of the isolated children.
Madis said it had emerged in discussions that the number of infections in the visited country did not exceed 16. The school could also have checked this on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Health Board.
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Editor: Helen Wright