The Liberal Democrats have called for a £30 catch-up voucher for
every day missed by primary and secondary school students for
covid-related absence.
At a rate of covid-related absence of 120,724 a week, as was seen in the most recent
data, this scheme would cost £3.6 million a week - just over
1% of the Government's initial National Tutoring Programme
catch-up fund.
The voucher would be given to the parents of all pupils in
state-funded schools to help cope with the difficulties of remote
learning. It comes as the Education Secretary has said that it could be
impossible to avoid the return of remote learning as the
Omicron variant causes havoc for teachers, pupils and parents on
the day schools return.
Studies from the Education Policy Institute
have shown that the lost lifetime earnings across a million
school children in the UK from lost learning during the pandemic
could amount to £46,000 each.
Their research also shows that
lost lifetime earnings across the 10 million school children in
the UK from lost learning during the pandemic could impact the
economy by some £463bn in a worst case scenario.
The Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Munira Wilson has
slammed the government as incompetent for their failure to put a
plan in place as schools return, and is proposing a catch-up
voucher scheme for every pupil who cannot attend school this term
due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The vouchers could be spent on catch-up tutoring to make up for
lost learning, with schools being able to advise parents on what
would most benefit their children.
Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson said:
“The Omicron variant is without doubt going to wreak havoc as our
schools return this week and the Government has left schools
woefully underprepared to deal with the chaos this will cause
pupils, parents and teachers alike.
“No child should be left behind as we enter a time of
unprecedented staff absences and case rates. Funding catch-up
vouchers would empower parents to restore their children’s
education, which the Conservatives have demonstrated time and
again is not their priority.
“From a botched catch-up package to a complete failure on getting
air purifiers into schools, the Government must act radically so
children are given the opportunity to catch up on the education
they are missing due to the Conservatives’ incompetence.”
ENDS
Note to Editors:
Research from the Education Policy Institute
shows:
-
Based on an estimated range of learning loss, this would
result in total lost lifetime earnings of between 1 and 3%.
In a central modelling scenario, this is likely to be at
least £16,000 lost in earnings per pupil, but could range
from £8,000 to £46,000 per pupil, depending on the extent of
learning loss.
-
These earnings losses would generate a total long-run cost of
between £78bn and £463bn across the 10 million children in
the education system in England. This range is likely to be a
highly conservative estimate of the true long-run costs of
lost learning.
