, Labour’s Shadow
Education Secretary, responding to new data showing
310,000 children were out of school due to Covid on 6 January,
with 106,000 teachers, teaching assistants and school leaders
also absent, said:
“Schools are facing a renewed wave of Covid chaos with staff and
pupil absences rising sharply. Yet the government is still
dragging its feet on the action needed to keep kids learning.
“Thousands of schools are lacking any ventilation support leaving
children learning in freezing classrooms, Ministers are unable to
say how many people have responded to their teacher volunteer
drive and hundreds of thousands of secondary pupils haven’t had
their first vaccine. It is incompetent, complacent, and
inadequate.
“Ministers must now step-up to secure our children's learning and
their futures, with a serious plan to tackle workforce absences
and ventilate schools to keep children learning together in
class.”
Ends
Notes to editors
- Government school attendance figures show:
310,000 children were absent for Covid related reasons on 6
January
-
- Total workforce absence for school leaders, teachers and
teaching assistants was 106,000 on 6 January
- Over 1.9 million 12 – 17 year olds remain unvaccinated as of
9 January:
|
|
12 - 15 yrs
|
16 - 17 yrs
|
|
Eligible population
|
2883551
|
1372832
|
|
Received first dose
|
1458847
|
893730
|
|
Unvaccinated
|
1,424,704
|
479,102
|
Covid Dashboard, ‘VaccinesAgeDemographics’ file
