The City of Tampere is preparing new guidelines to ban face coverings in schools, daycare centres and other educational institutions.

The planned ban will likely go into effect in the autumn, according to Anne-Mari Jussila (NCP), the deputy mayor of the City's educational services.

The guidelines will be similar to those in place in other Finnish cities.

Last week, it was reported that Vantaa decided to ban face coverings in schools for religious reasons. The City of Lahti is also considering a similar ban.

Stance changed after Vantaa's decision

Last week, Tampere's basic education chief, Ulla Ojalammi, told Yle that a face covering ban was not needed because it is rarely seen in the city.

However, that position changed after Vantaa announced that it was banning face coverings in schools.

"It's true we don't have a clear need for a ban in Tampere yet, but we wanted to anticipate possible security concerns. We'd rather do it this way [in advance], rather than react when the need arises," Deputy Mayor Jussila explained.

According to Jussila, being able to recognise staff and students is a safety issue, but also a big part of interaction between pupils and teachers.

Tampere has not previously had city-level guidelines on the use of face covering.