This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
by Matt Trinder
Industrial Reporter
BRINGING all pupils back to class could worsen the Covid-19 pandemic and put teachers at serious risk, a coalition of unions warned today.
The warning came ahead of a press conference last night at which the Prime Minister was expected to bow to union campaigning and move schooling online to suppress virus transmission.
The government’s chaotic handling of the reopening of schools after the Christmas break has caused confusion for parents and teachers, according to a joint statement from the NAHT school leaders’ union, the National Education Union (NEU), NASUWT, the GMB, Unison and Unite.
The unions’ statement said: “Bringing all pupils back into classrooms while the rate of infection is so high is exposing education-sector workers to serious risk of ill-health and could fuel the pandemic.”
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Instead of creating chaos for parents and exposing workers to risks, the Prime Minister [Boris Johnson] should be talking to trade unions about what steps are needed to make sure all schools are Covid-secure.”
NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “It is now abundantly clear that the pandemic is seriously impacting on the ability of all schools and colleges to continue to operate normally. The NASUWT is calling for an immediate nationwide move to remote education.”
It follows the NEU’s decision to advise its members not to return to work.
Reflecting teachers’ anxieties, Kempsey Primary School, Worcestershire, head Bryony Baynes said: “I feel sick with anxiety. At the moment, I don’t feel that leadership is clear.”
Mr Johnson has insisted that schools are safe, arguing that the risk to teachers is “no greater than it is to anyone else.”
He added: “The reasons for wanting to keep schools open I think are very, very powerful.”
Early findings from a small study carried out in November suggested that the proportion of schoolchildren and teachers with coronavirus mirrors the proportion in the local community, but no data has been published since the new more infectious strain of the virus came to light last month.
In Wales, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said that the government is still planning for schools across the country “to open in a flexible way.”
