The Opposition is accusing Education Minister Tom Osborne of politicizing their calls for the government to be more transparent about the situation of COVD-19 in schools.

Shadow Minister Barry Petten says their initial call was not about politics, but public safety. Minister Osborne responded yesterday, that if he disclosed all the information the opposition was calling for, the individual responsible for bringing the virus into the school community would be easily known and exposed to shaming.

However, Petten says he doesn’t want the names, ages, sex, or grades of any individuals, just timely public disclosure if a case has been detected in a school. He says it needs to go beyond a letter to parents, as schools are centers of the community.

He says children, parents and the wider community all have a right to know more, as of now, most people are finding out through rumour and media.

Petten suggests that adding schools to lists of potential exposure sites may help in the disclosure process.

He says that the province already discloses the number of people with COVID, their age, region, and places they’ve visited. He says he just wants the government to be upfront when COVID is detected in schools.