Fears for children’s welfare as Boris Johnson delays opening schools for another three weeks
CAMPAIGNERS and MPs hit out yesterday at Boris Johnson’s decision to delay reopening schools — warning of a disaster for kids’ education.
Children have already missed at least 111 school days out of a possible 190 since last March’s first Covid lockdown.
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The Prime Minister scrapped plans to get them back to class after the February half-term, with March 8 now the earliest return date instead.
The announcement sparked widespread dismay, with calls to at least get primary school children back earlier.
Campaigners warned being stuck at home was damaging kids’ educational prospects and well-being.
In a stormy Commons session, Tory MP Joy Morrissey said: “As a mother of a nine-year-old, I can see young children are struggling and their cognitive development is determined at this age.
“We’re storing up a lifetime of problems of anxiety, mental health, obesity by having all of our young primary-aged children at home.
“Please may I urge the Prime Minister to have courage in these final months to bring children, particularly primary-aged children, back to school as quickly as possible.”
Ex-health minister Steve Brine demanded to know why we had to wait until March 8, “given we all agree and he has said today at the despatch box that schools are safe?”
The PM insisted he was desperate for them to reopen but March 8 “is about as fast as we think we can prudently go”.
He added that the country “would want them open in a cautious and sensible way”.
The Prime Minister also admitted it could take up to a year for children to catch up on the education they have missed.
He told MPs: "We recognise these extended school closures have had a huge impact on children's learning, which will take more than a year to make up."
“The reason we say 8 March is the earliest is we have to give a certain amount of time for the vaccine to bed in.”
We’re storing up a lifetime of problems of anxiety, mental health and obesity.
He added: “We also need to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine in driving down the number of deaths, and we won’t know that until the middle of February.”
The PM promised to start setting out a path out of lockdown by the end of February, but warned nothing will unlock for at least another 40 days. It also depends on cases falling and a smooth vaccine roll-out.
He told MPs: “Schools are the priority — they remain the priority.
"If we make progress and those conditions continue to be satisfied, then we will be looking simultaneously at the other restrictions we have.
“If we achieve our target of vaccinating everyone in the four most vulnerable groups with their first dose by 15 February — and every passing day sees more progress towards that goal — then those groups will have developed immunity from the virus by about three weeks later, that is by 8 March.
At-risk young 'can get jabs'
CLINICALLY vulnerable kids can get a Covid-19 vaccine in “exceptional circumstances”.
England’s deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam told the news to the dad of a little girl who has been shielding since March.
Speaking at a No10 press conference, he said: “For children who are extremely at risk there can be a discussion between their physician and the parents about vaccination.
“That would be use of the vaccines in an off-licence way and therefore needs to be carefully discussed.”
Kids are not being jabbed as they are less affected by Covid-19 and the drug has not been tested on them.
“We hope it will therefore be safe to commence the reopening of schools from Monday 8 March, with other economic and social restrictions being removed thereafter as and when the data permits.”
Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance told a No10 briefing last night we should see the effects of the vaccine in mid-February.
But he warned: “It’s going to take weeks for this to start to come down to low levels.”
Schools had been due to return on February 22. Mr Johnson promised them two weeks’ notice and did not rule out a phased return.
He said his lockdown plan will show clearly “how we can reopen our schools, economy and get our lives back — a roadmap we can use as a country to defeat the virus and reclaim our lives.”
He said tiers will return but “we need to see impacts of vaccines on graphs of mortality”.
'EDUCATION CATASTROPHE'
Education campaign groups last night warned that being stuck at home is already taking a devastating toll on millions of fed-up kids.
Liz Cole, founder of UsforThem, which campaigns for schools to reopen, said: “The school shutdown has been damaging children’s educational prospects and having a huge impact on their health and welfare.
“Yet education is still being treated as an optional extra. Teaching the nation’s children is an essential and critical service just like healthcare and food provision.”
She said Mr Johnson must either reopen schools now, or publish a full analysis explaining why not.
Ex-schools minister David Laws also warned Covid is causing an “education catastrophe”.
He said reopening schools “must be the absolute number one priority when Covid cases are down”.
He called for the PM to plough more cash into catch-up programmes and prioritise vaccination of teachers once the vulnerable are immunised.
Mr Laws, chairman of the Education Policy Institute, also said kids should be able to repeat a school year.
He added: “The damage that Covid has done to education and child well-being is huge. For this generation’s sake, we must step up and match the scale of this challenge.”
The Sun says
THE new delay over reopening schools is an agonising blow to kids and parents.
Especially for young mums and dads on low incomes, living in cramped homes with limited tech for online learning. But no one is spared the damage.
We struggle to see why primaries, whose pupils rarely get sick from Covid or spread it, cannot open after half-term.
We understand the caution more with secondaries. Older kids could bring the virus home, negating lockdown. That’s a bigger problem than the risk to teachers.
This generation has lost most of a year. Even the best online learning cannot compare with the classroom. Many kids will never plug those gaps. Their life chances will be irredeemably damaged.
Top Head Katharine Birbalsingh thinks all pupils should retake the year.
Most would loathe it, understandably. But the Government should consider it.
Yes, it’s the nuclear option. That doesn’t make it wrong.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer demanded teachers and school staff are vaccinated during half-term.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Mr Johnson last night pledged an extra £300million for schools to help kids catch up from the lockdown devastation.
But he dismissed calls to put teachers at the front of the vaccination queue, warning it would take jabs away “from the more vulnerable”.
Zooming cheek of students
CANNY schoolkids are changing their Zoom name to “Reconnecting …” so they never have to answer questions from their teacher.
They are creating the fake username to fool staff into thinking that they are having inter-net problems.
The trick was revealed by Chris Arnold, a DJ from Bristol, who is married to a teacher.
He said on Twitter one lad put “Reconnecting” with ellipsis to make it look genuine.
But, he added: “Another pupil tried it but misspelt the word so was found out instantly!”