Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces criticism on his recent decision to reopen school from 8th March. The National Education Union, the largest education union in the UK, warns that setting a target date at this point, for schools to return could create false hope.
The Union has also given a stark warning that it would be ‘dangerous’ to do so too soon and could leave us facing another lockdown later in the year.
The PM has elaborated a road map on the gradual reopening of schools across the country from the week commencing 22nd February. He announced to MPs on Wednesday that by the middle of next month the government will have a clearer idea of the vaccine’s impact on the pandemic. Speaking at the commons, the prime minister talked about a “gradual and phased approach towards easing the restrictions in a sustainable way”.
However, such a specific approach to set a date for schools reopening has come under immense scrutiny from the Union.
With the current death rate exceeding 100,000 and predicted to go up to another 50,000, PM’s decision to reopen school has come across as reckless and hasty by the experts.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, commented:
“We all want schools to open, but like the Prime Minister, we want them to open when it is safe to do so. This has to be done sustainably and safely.
“We agree with Boris Johnson that this is a balancing act. He has a duty to assess the easing of lockdown according to the progress and effects of vaccination, a reduction in cases and the various other criteria he has set out. But in setting out a potential date of 8th March, he is falling once again into his characteristic and too often misplaced optimism. He is pre-empting a decision that will have to be made in mid-February at the very earliest.
“If we come out too early, we will end up in lockdown again. This may protect the elderly and most vulnerable adults in the population, but it does not protect parents. It fails completely to recognise the role schools have played in community transmission.”
It might seem to many that the prime minister forgot what he told the nation at the beginning of this lockdown. He had mentioned that schools are a ‘vector for transmission’.
Few points that need to be considered are –
When schools were reopened after the Spring 2020 lockdown,
- 1 in 1,000 was infected with the coronavirus.
- Currently, 1 in 55 people have coronavirus, and
- R is only just below 1.
The cases are falling slowly.
Many households across the country are struggling to balance working from home and home-schooling their kids, simultaneously. It would have been acceptable to have set out a roadmap, but to suggest a date at this stage runs the risk of creating false hope.
“The Prime Minister may now be immune to the embarrassment of u-turns, but school leaders, teachers and support staff, not to mention families and students, are utterly exhausted by them,” quoted Dr Mary Bousted.
Peter Middleman is the north west’s regional secretary for the NEU. According to Manchester Evening News, Peter fears that the government might eventually come under political pressure and get children back to class before infection rates have fallen enough.
“Everybody wants schools open – teachers, parents and staff,” he said. “But if we use the analogy of a building on fire, you wouldn’t be rushing back in because of education attainment, you’d wait for the fire to be put out.”
He also said, “To open sooner rather than later to trigger an economic recovery would be reckless and we’ll risk getting into another lockdown before the summer or in September.”
School staffs, teachers and care givers are yet to be considered as a top priority to get the vaccine. Under this circumstance, a full reopening of all schools across the country might become hazardous for everyone involved.
