Commenting on When should a school reopen?, the final report of
Independent SAGE, published today, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General
Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“This latest report casts yet more doubt and concern over the
Prime Minister’s decision to press ahead with a June 1st wider
opening for schools. The Government’s primary duty should be to
protect its people, but in England - unlike the rest of the UK –
we are hurtling towards the further opening of schools before the
scientific evidence says it is safe to do so.
“This decision threatens not just the health of school
communities but also of wider society, with the clear risk of a
rise in the R rate. All the sacrifices that have been made to
stay indoors and try to contain this virus could be thrown away
in the pursuit of fulfilling an arbitrary promise to open schools
more widely from June 1.
“The National Education Union’s snapshot survey of 4,016 members,
published today, shows that even with the current low pupil
numbers in schools, significant problems with health and safety
exist. Members speak of the inability to maintain social
distancing, the lack of hand sanitiser, insufficient PPE and not
enough sinks for hand washing. Come June 1 should Government
continue to press ahead with their plans, this will clearly get
significantly worse. (1)
“We believe the right thing to do is to wait a couple of weeks
for the level of coronavirus to recede further and for the test
and track programme to become embedded. We must not take risks
with the nation’s children, their parents or school staff.
“We agree with Independent SAGE that the extent of the epidemic
in Britain is greater than other European nations and that our
school system is quite different. We have much larger class sizes
in the UK and in England schools have much less support from
local authorities.
“No one is saying go back when it is 100% safe, but with 37,460
people across the country having already lost their lives to
Covid-19 the Prime Minister must accept his responsibilities to
the country and draw back from this arbitrary date.”
ENDS
Editor’s Note
The Independent SAGE final report is available here:
http://www.independentsage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Independent-Sage-Brief-Report-on-Schools-5.pdf
Our survey is here:
https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/safety-guidelines-not-being-met-in-schools
