The National Education Union has launched a campaign to include
schools and colleges in the lockdown. In less than 48 hours, over
150,000 teachers and support staff have voiced their support. In
addition, over 20,000 have written to their MP and lobbied them
on social media since Sunday afternoon.
We are calling for an amendment in Parliament to the lockdown
bill to include schools and colleges, and for rotas to be
introduced at the end of the lockdown period.
The latest figures from the ONS estimate that 1% of primary
pupils and 2% of secondary pupils have the virus and that these
levels have increased dramatically since wider opening in
September.
A 2% virus level means that in ever three secondary classes, on
any given day, you can expect two of the students to have the
virus.
NEU analysis of ONS figures shows that virus levels are now 9
times higher amongst primary pupils and an astonishing 50 times
higher amongst secondary pupils.
The NEU supported the full opening of schools and colleges in
September, subject to a number of measures being put in place
before the date of return. But weeks later, and with half term
now a fading memory, these concerns are unchanged. Schools and
colleges are still crying out for regular testing,
fit-for-purpose track and trace, and the support needed to expand
school space, reduce class size and maintain social distancing.
Schools currently have to pay for safety measures out of their
own pockets, in spite of already stretched budgets.
Staff have done everything they can to keep schools Covid secure
but without further measures and support from Government we have
to expect that the virus levels will continue to rise.
Commenting on the enormous response to our call, Kevin Courtney,
Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"It is deeply worrying that the Prime Minister appears not to
have learned from his mistakes. This Government has been cutting
corners and taking half measures on Covid, and a second lockdown
is the result. They have failed heads, teachers, support staff,
parents and pupils.
"The response to our call this weekend for school closures, shows
that our concern is widely shared. The Government is failing our
communities as well as our schools and colleges, and that is why
we are seeking an amendment to Parliament’s lockdown bill. We
have seen a fifty-fold increase in infections in secondary
schools alone since September. Schools, clearly, are an engine
for virus transmission.
“The lockdown would be much more effective in reducing virus
levels if schools and colleges were a part of it. We have seen
the huge support of our members behind our campaign and now it is
time for , and every
other Member of Parliament to stand behind our education staff
who are working so hard in the face of adversity to deliver the
education our children and young people deserve.
“Schools and colleges should be in the lockdown and the
Government should use that four-week period to improve test,
track, trace, and to plan for the introduction of rota operation
at least in secondary and sixth form settings.
ENDS
Editor’s Note
Close schools and colleges as part of national lockdown: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/close-schools-and-colleges-now
ONS: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/30october2020?fbclid=IwAR3n2nxa26GUrZLWgPlYfLE41g90EByLZKh1ZAoyG8MeoOV4k884wnEy2tI%C2%A0%C2%A0
