Commenting on the rise in the number of coronavirus clusters in
schools (1), as revealed in the latest National flu and
COVID-19 surveillance reports, Dr Mary Bousted,
Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union,
said:
“As the rate of coronavirus continues to rise, so too does the
disruption to education. Last week there were 104 outbreaks in
primary schools, 127 in secondary schools and 20 in special
schools. This is almost double the number just two weeks ago.
“Meanwhile the same report showed that the Department for
Education have made no progress encouraging the mass testing of
pupils. Less than 20% of secondary pupils took a coronavirus test
last week which is virtually unchanged this half term and much
lower than in March when 60% of pupils were taking a test.
“Gavin Williamson’s failure to act to reduce the spread of
coronavirus in schools is shocking. We know that every day of
education lost matters to a child and yet the Government appear
to have written off the whole of this half-term.”
This morning, the joint general secretaries of the NEU wrote to
asking him
to explain the rationale and answer a number of questions about
the policy decision to remove safety measures in education
settings this month. You can read the full text here: https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/removal-school-safety-measures
Editor’s Note
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https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1000374/Weekly_COVID-19_and_Influenza_Surveillance_Graphs_w27.pdf
