Schools in England will stay open during the new four-week lockdown, the prime minister said tonight.
Boris Johnson told the country: “Our priority, my priority,remainskeeping people in education.”
He added: “Our senior clinicians still advise that schoolis the best place for childrento be.
“We cannot let this virus damage our children’s futures even more than it has already and I urge parents to continue taking their children to school.
“I am extremely grateful to teachers across the country for their dedication in enabling schools to remain open.”
Coronavirus: Close schools for fourweeks to stop Covid, say teachers
Latest data:‘Steep’ rise in Covid among secondary school students
Independent SAGE:Experts call for students to wear masks in classrooms
School safety:Schools not ‘high-risk’ workplaces after all
The decision will disappoint England’s largest teaching union, the NEU, which this afternoon called for schools to close for four weeks during lockdown to all but vulnerable children and those of key workers.
Coronavirus: Not closing schools ‘could lead to longer lockdowns’
The union has also said that schools should be moved to a rota at the end of the lockdown period.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said:“It isclear from Office of National Statisticsdata that schools are an engine for virus transmission. It would be self-defeating for the government to impose a national lockdownwhileignoring the role of schools as a major contributor to the spread of the virus.
“Such a lockdown would impose pain on the whole community -but not be as effective as it could be if schools were included. Ignoring the role of schools and colleges in the spread of the virus is likely to lead to the need for even longer lockdowns in future.”
The unionhas previously called for rotasto be introduced into secondary schools in high-risk areas for Covid-19and for schools to close as part of a two-week “circuit-breaker” lockdown.
