The Green Party has called on Education Secretary to provide
a plan for closing schools this Christmas that will ensure the
spread of the coronavirus infection is kept to a minimum.
The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics suggest
that over the most recent week, the only group that has seen an
increase in positive tests for coronavirus was secondary
school-age children. [1]
Green Party Education Spokesperson Vix Lowthion has now called on
the UK government to outline what its plans are to ensure there
is as little risk of spreading the infection as possible once
schools close for Christmas.
Lowthion, a secondary school teacher on the Isle of Wight, said:
“Families are desperate to see one another this Christmas and it
is a tragic consequence of the pandemic that this brings with it
an inevitable risk.
“However has so far
not laid out any plans for protecting families this Christmas as
they relax restrictions and schools close for the holiday.
“School-age children remain the only group that are still seeing
a rise in infections, despite nearly four weeks of national
lockdown. It was wrong to put children and their families in this
position in the first place, but the government now has a duty of
care to the country to ensure that it does all it can to mitigate
the spread of infection over the Christmas period.”
In Wales, the UCAC teaching union has called on the Welsh
Government to close schools early so pupils and teachers would
not have to self-isolate on Christmas Day. [2]
Lowthion said:
“Closing schools early would allow staff and students to
self-isolate before Christmas so they can feel more confident
that they do not have coronavirus when they meet the rest of
their family over the five days that restrictions have been
relaxed.
“It is extremely worrying, yet no great surprise, that this
education secretary appears to have done nothing to plan for this
situation yet.”
ENDS
Notes
1 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/26november2020#age-analysis-of-the-number-of-people-in-england-who-had-covid-19
2
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55095175
