UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a major test overseeing the return to the classroom of England’s schoolchildren in September after five months. The school reopenings come as Britain, which has recorded more than 46,000 coronavirus-related deaths – the highest toll in Europe – could be witnessing the start of a resurgence of Covid-19 infections. More than a 1,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in the UK on Wednesday, 300 more than when the country went into lockdown on March 23. Since opening up last month of sectors including retail and restaurants, there have been local outbreaks. Restrictions have recently been reimposed in some local areas in central and northern England, as well as in the Scottish city of Aberdeen last week, where pubs and restaurants had to close and travel restrictions were renewed. Although schools remained open for children of essential workers, the majority of children in the UK have not set foot in a classroom for five months. This has raised concern about their social and educational welfare, especially for disadvantaged children. An estimated 700,000 children in the UK do not have computer access at home and some have been using parents’ mobile phones for virtual classes. “Now that we know enough to reopen schools to all pupils safely, we have a moral duty to do so,” Johnson wrote in an article in The Mail on Sunday . “Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible,” added Johnson, who has responsibility for education in England only. Children in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland returned to school on Wednesday. Teaching unions say that while they also believe the best interests of children would be served by returning to school, they want to see the government come up with clear guidelines on what will happen in the case of new virus outbreaks. Coronavirus: Boris Johnson calls anti-vaxxers ‘nuts’, warns of second spike “The government’s Plan A is that all schools open in September. We are asking government for a Plan B, so it is clear what will happen if there are local spikes, or a second wave later in the autumn,” Jetty Glazier, a member of the executive of the National Education Union, the UK’s largest teaching union told South China Morning Post . “There was a debate what shuts down first – pubs or schools. For an educational perspective we would say we need schools to be open, but only when it is safe.” Masks will not only not be compulsory for teachers and support staff. Whether staff or pupils will be allowed to wear them is at the discretion of the head teacher. This raises another concern and anxious parents may simply decide to keep their children home. In Northern Ireland however, there were moves from the trade unions to make mask wearing compulsory for all post-primary schoolchildren. Perhaps even more worrying for teachers and support staff, Schools Minister Nick Gibb said there would be no routine testing of staff when schools return. He said teachers and pupils would be prioritised for a test if they had symptoms. Boris Johnson plans to return UK to normality in time for Christmas “Anybody that shows symptoms in schools – teachers and pupils – will be prioritised,” he told the BBC. “Not routine testing. The advice we have is that it’s better to test when people actually show symptoms. Anybody that shows symptoms, of course, at schools will be sent home to self-isolate, and then they’ll be tested.” The UK will be watching closely what happens in the United States, where almost 200,000 children tested positive for coronavirus last month. Schools in several US states have reopened for in-person classes – but some have already been hit by large quarantines of students and staff following fresh outbreaks. Among them was North Paulding High School in Georgia, which made headlines soon after students returned to school August 3 when photos posted on social media showed hallways crowded with students, and many of them not wearing masks. The figures from the American School of Paediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association undermine both US President Donald Trump’s claim that children are immune to the virus. UK Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said earlier this week that a soon-to-be-released government report would show there was little evidence of transmissions in educational institutions. It then emerged that the proposed report by Public Health England also claimed older children in secondary school could transmit the virus as easily as adults. Not surprisingly, people are confused. Beer flows again as England’s pubs reopen after coronavirus lockdown Under pressure from his own Conservative Party and opposition Labour Party to safely restart classroom teaching, Johnson has said schools were his priority. When pubs reopened in early July to help reboot the economy, the government was criticised for deeming it safe for people to drink in public – but not safe enough for schools to reopen. However, with the drink and restaurant trade such an important part of the economy, it would also be difficult for Johnson to order them to shut down again. The UK not only has the highest Covid-19 death rate in Europe, it has also suffered the biggest economic hit of all the G7 industrialised countries. The economy shrank by 20 per cent in the second quarter of the year, the largest dip on record, partly due to the importance to the economy of the beleaguered hospitality sector. Trade union confidence in the government was further dented amid a growing row about how to award this year’s A-level and GCSE exams. Fat-fighter Boris Johnson declares war on obesity in UK On Wednesday, a day before students received their results, the government agreed to allow pupils to appeal grades given to them by teachers and other assessments, with the appeal based on the results of their mock exams. The Scottish regional government was forced to allow teachers to decide grades after it emerged children from poorer areas were disproportionally marked down by its artificial intelligence grading system. “To have it sprung on schools and universities overnight with 24 hours to go is appalling. How are we meant to advise anxious pupils and parents tomorrow when we’re as much in the dark as they are?” David Goodhew, head teacher of Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, west London, told The Times . Universities were concerned the wait for appeals would further complicate this year’s clearing process, already under pressure from Covid-19. Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
