Air travel chaos: 2,000 teachers are stranded abroad at start of term

MORE than 2,000 Scottish teachers were absent from duty yesterday as flight restrictions caused by the volcanic ash cloud left them stranded overseas.

• Stranded tourists wait for departure. Picture: Getty

Some local authorities reported more than 10 per cent of their teaching staff had been unable to make it into school, as many schools reopened following the Easter break.

Across the country, at least 2,556 teachers and support staff were stuck abroad.

Schools in some areas, such as Edinburgh, do not go back until today, meaning the full scale of the problem could be even greater. Thousands of pupils were also stuck abroad, and several school trips were unable to return home.

There were no reports of schools being forced to close, but teaching unions said the situation was not sustainable for more than a few days.

With students facing exams from the middle of next week, the Scottish Qualifications Authority is preparing to bring in contingency measures similar to those planned for the swine flu outbreak if the situation continues. Businesses in Scotland are also struggling due to absent staff, and difficulty importing and exporting goods, with one expert predicting the crisis could be costing the Scottish economy 3.8 million a day.

The health service has reported difficulties due to absent staff and problems transporting vital tissue for transplants.

And supermarkets are beginning to notice a shortage of exotic fruits and flowers that cannot be flown into Scotland.

Among local authorities where schools were worst affected yesterday was North Lanarkshire Council, with 299 teachers and support staff missing.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: "It is a tribute to the contingency planning, hard work and efforts of staff that there have been no indications yet of any schools being unable to open as a result of the staff absences."

In the West Dunbartonshire Council area, missing 88 staff, a school trip from St Peter the Apostle in Clydebank, involving 21 pupils participating in a football tournament, was in Poland and is due to fly home today.

East Renfrewshire Council said 132 teachers – 10.8 per cent of the total 1,230 staff – were stranded abroad.

Among its schools, St Ninian's High School in Giffnock alone was missing 23 teachers.

A spokesman for the council said: "All schools are working as normal using preprepared continuity plans to plug gaps. Secondaries are giving priority to covering certificate exam classes in the last two weeks of the run-up to highers, advanced highers and intermediates."

Schools in the Glasgow City Council area were short of 278 staff and those in South Lanarkshire were missing 256 – the equivalent of 7 per cent of teaching staff.

Ken Cunningham, general-secretary of School Leaders Scotland, said some parents were so anxious they were contacting headteachers from abroad to ask for homework to be sent by e-mail.

"It's nothing like a disaster just now but it could rapidly change into something quite serious," he said. "A school can probably sustain it for two to three days at the most and then they will really start to struggle badly.

"We have gone through swine flu and the snow, and now it's the ash. I hope these things only come in threes."

John Stodter, general-secretary of the Association of the Directors of Education in Scotland, said: "I think it's containable, but to me it's borderline containable.

"If you think of flu epidemics, losing 10 per cent of your teachers would be quite difficult to cope with."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Council for Independent Schools said she was not aware of any independent schools being seriously impacted upon by the situation.

Scotland's national qualification exams, including standard grades and highers, get under way next Wednesday and about 160,000 candidates will be involved.

A spokesman for the Scottish Qualifications Authority said contingency measures were already in place in case exams were disrupted.

"We will ensure that candidates will not be disadvantaged and that their work will be assessed and qualifications awarded in line with recognised frameworks.

"This would mean invoking what are termed 'alternative evidence' scenarios – such as course work and prelim results."

He added: "Similar contingency plans were in place last year when there was a possibility that exams might have been disrupted by a threatened flu pandemic."

Graham Bell, a spokesman for Edinburgh Chambers of Commerce, said he thought the travel ban was also having a huge impact on businesses in Scotland.

He estimated it could be losing the Scottish economy 3.8 million each day, meaning already it has cost about 19 million.