Coronavirus: Moral duty to get all children back in school – PM

There is a “moral duty” to get all children back into schools in England next month, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said it was the ‘national priority’ after months without personal training during the coronavirus pandemic.

Government advisers have warned of risks in plans to open up the company.

The PM is understood to make it clear that schools should be the last sector to close in all future local lockdowns.

A Downing Street source said Mr Johnson was of the opinion that the damage done to children’s educational prospects and mental health by not attending school was far more damaging than the risk they posed to them by the virus.

Schools in the UK have been closed to vulnerable children only since March and those of critical workers and the current plan is for most children across the country to be back by new month.

Guidance on renewal has been published for England. There are also separate plans for Wales, Northern Ireland and also Scotland, where schools are scheduled for Tuesday.

In his article, Mr Johnson said: “This pandemic is not over, and the last thing any of us can afford to do is become selfish.

“But now that we know enough to open schools safely to all students, we have a moral duty to do so.”

The Prime Minister also warned of the “spiraling economic costs” of parents and carers not being able to work.

He added: “Keeping our schools for a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially irresponsible, economically unsustainable and morally irresponsible.”

Mr Johnson’s remarks come after England’s Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield said re – schooling “should be a priority”, and criticized ministers for treating children “as a afterthought” during the crisis.

School Minister Nick Gibb said this week that the government could not “decide” that classroom education would be a priority because decisions are made by local health chiefs.

However, he told the BBC that all children in England would return to school next month, including in those areas currently affected by local lockdowns, amid a spike in cases. These include Preston, Greater Manchester, Leicester and parts of East Lancashire and West Yorkshire, where measures are aimed at limiting social interaction between households.

But source No. 10 said in case of future stricter local lockdowns, Mr Johnson’s expectation is that schools would be the last sector to be closed, to businesses such as shops and pubs.

Emergence in cases in a number of areas in England prompted the Prime Minister last month to pause the reduction of the lockdown.

Speaking at the time, Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, warned the nation had “probably reached the limit or reached the limits” of what can be done to open society safely.

“What that potentially means is if we want to do more things in the future, we may have to do less of some other things,” he said.

Prof Neil Ferguson, a former member of the government’s scientific advisory group, Sage, whose modeling led to the decision to set up the lockdown, also suggested that ministers should “pay back on easing restrictions” to a full taking time back to schools and keeping the virus under control.

Meanwhile. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the government should improve its testing and tracking system or consider closing pubs prior to re-opening schools.

He told Stephen Radio Nolan of BBC Radio 5 Live: “If we saw things going up again, then yes, absolutely, pubs would be the first thing I would say should close … I think there’s a growing body of evidence that pubs are one of the main places where this virus spreads. “

Elsewhere, Labor has called on the government to stop a “job fire” by providing targeted assistance to industries and businesses still shut down by the pandemic.

Bowling alleys, casinos and beauty salons were one of the businesses that were prevented from opening at the end of last month, for at least a fortnight.

Shadow Industry Secretary Lucy Powell said it was “clearly illogical and unjustified” to prevent some companies from reopening when they end the job retention scheme.

On Saturday, the United Kingdom reported that another 55 people had died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total to 46,566. A further 758 people tested positive for Covid-19.

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