The society made the decision this week to cancel the music, and speech and drama sections of the annual competition because of the coronavirus pandemic, but individual entries for the instrumental section are still going ahead at this stage.

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Society president Meryl Hennessy said the new rules restricting schools was "the catalyst" because they're not allowed to leave the school grounds or gather in large groups.

"We don't know if schools will be closed down. It's already stressful for teachers, and preparing for the eisteddfod is a huge amount of work," she said.

"We did consider just running with individual items but we don't know how the situation will be and that's an OHS risk for volunteers and adjudicators. So, we made the very hard decision - and it wasn't without a lot of pain to the committee - that for this year we would cancel those two [sections].

"It's been a very difficult decision because we don't like to disappoint the children and we're very aware there isn't much for them to look forward to at the present time, particularly with sport and lots of other activities cancelled, but we do have to consider our duty of care."

Mrs Hennessy said Gunnedah Shire Band was still preparing for the instrumental section and the society was hopeful the pandemic won't be an issue by the time May rolls around.

"We do have another couple of weeks to decide," she said.

The society is hopeful the bi-annual Schools on Stage can still go ahead in August, and the annual dance eisteddfod gets the green light in September.

"We do live in hope, come August, that everyone will be sparkling and back singing and dancing. It will make Schools on Stage a really special production because half of our energy's not been spent on the eisteddfod," Mrs Hennessy said.

The president said there had already been discussion around themes and music choice for Schools on Stage, and they are likely to make a more definite decision in the coming months on whether it will go ahead.