[ad_1]
Boris Johnson has been urged to provide parents with a ‘route map’ for when children can resume learning in school.
The Government had previously talked about reopening schools after February half-term, with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson stating that parents would be told two weeks before their children are required to go back.
However, ministers are now said to be rethinking the February restart, while several education leaders noted that it was likely children won’t return to the classroom until Easter.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast this morning, Education Select Committee chairman Robert Halfon called on Johnson to set out a clear pathway for getting children back in school.
He said: ‘I’m urging clarity for parents, children, teachers and support staff as to what the Government plans are because there’s enormous uncertainty.
‘What I want the Government to do is set out a route map and what I mean by that is set out what the conditions need to be before children can go back to school more fully.’
Asked if schools should reopen while infection rates remain high, Halfon added: ‘Perhaps you might have a situation whereby in areas where the coronavirus is low you would have schools open in those areas, you might have a phased opening. But we need to be told about these plans.’
He also backed calls for teachers and support staff to be vaccinated as a priority after vulnerable people had received their first dose.
Several headteachers have been calling for all staff to receive the vaccine next month, and have presented an ambitious scheme which would involve 150 independent schools and state academies becoming vaccination hubs.
Halfon’s words come as Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey stressed that Johnson was ‘as keen as possible’ to get children back into classrooms, as she discussed the issue on Sky News.
She said: ‘I’m conscious the Education Secretary set out last week the approach that of course families and schools would be informed two weeks in advance.
‘But the important [thing] is that we follow the evidence, that the infection rates get back under control, and meanwhile remote learning is continuing – but I am conscious of the pressure this brings on families at this time.’
She added: ‘The Prime Minister is as keen as possible to try and get back to face-to-face learning as quickly as possible.’
This morning Johnson visited a vaccination site at Barnet Football Club, where around 13,000 jabs have been delivered since mid-December. He talked to reporters about the issue of schools during the visit.
Asked if he could give a firm date for schools reopening, he said: ‘Daily we’re looking at the data and trying to work out when we’re going to be able to lift restrictions.
Mum admits killing disabled son, 10, who was ‘suffocated with sponge’
‘Schools obviously will be a priority but I don’t think anybody would want to see the restrictions lifted so quickly while the rate of infection is still very high so as to lead to another great spread of infection.
‘We’ve now got the R down below 1 across the whole of the country, that’s a great achievement, we don’t want to see a huge surge of infection just when we’ve got the vaccination programme going so well and people working so hard.
‘I understand why people want to get a timetable from me today, what I can tell you is we’ll tell you, tell parents, tell teachers as much as we can as soon as we can.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Get your need-to-know
latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
[ad_2]
READ SOURCE
